Developments per cluster

At Unica, the market approach is organised in nine clusters. Each cluster has its own focus area or specialisation, each contributes to the growth and strengthening of the position of Unica and each is a leading player in its own market. Thanks to this structure, we are able to respond rapidly to changing market conditions, while still focusing on innovation so that each cluster retains its distinctive capacity to attract the right specialists.

Building Projects

Unica Building Projects manages and coordinates all-round technological solutions for new build and renovation projects, with a team of in-house specialists and craftspeople who can manage every project from A to Z; from design, engineering, project management, production and prefabrication through to installation and commissioning. At the same time, Unica Building Projects can fulfil the management role in delivering appropriate energy supply solutions at every stage of the project.  

Developments in the field of nitrogen restrictions have had only a limited impact on our activities. For some time, our focus has been on transformation and renovation projects, an area in which Unica Building Projects specialises. We offer our knowledge and experience in this field as an integrated proposition to provide our customers the optimum assistance in facing up to different sustainability challenges. We are also frontrunners in the field of BIM (Building Information Modelling), an essential tool for analysing, visualising, managing and exchanging building information. In collaboration with BIM4ALL, we developed a learning programme for employees in 2023, to further improve our digital skills in cooperation, knowledge utilisation and growth.

Building Services

Unica Building Services improves the working and living environment by effectively managing and maintaining buildings. This guarantees the customer and users of these buildings comfort, safety, health and sustainability, based on the latest proven technology and most recent government standards.

With a network of branches throughout the Netherlands, the activities of Unica Building Services are organised geographically. The acquisition of Breedveld & Schröder and Hermans Elektra, resulted in 2023 in the establishment of an 18th branch in Almere, from which we can deliver an even better level of service to customers in the central Netherlands.

Fire Safety

The Unica Fire Safety cluster delivers optimum fire safety throughout the entire lifecycle of fire safety systems, with certified fire safety solutions. We offer a full range of fire safety solutions by integrating the specialisations extinguishing systems, fire detection and evacuation, pump sets and water supply, together with structural fire safety. Through this integrated approach, we aim to realise an innovative and fire-safe living and working environment.

One remarkable milestone in 2023 was the official certification of the Fire Vision Sprinkler, a solution that allows two-weekly sprinkler system tests to be carried out remotely. The certifying body KIWA confirmed that the solution complies with the highest quality standards. This application offers our customers sustainable support for the periodic management and testing of sprinkler systems by granting digital access to the status of their system, 24/7. The remote solution also represents a major reduction in CO2 emissions by removing the need for multiple travel movements.

Access & Security

Unica Access & Security develops, installs, manages and maintains complete systems in the field of access control and security, leaving employees and visitors to carry out their work, worry free. The cluster specialises in answering complex access control and security issues with solutions that are smart, intelligent and sustainable. In providing those solutions we always seek the perfect balance between security, safety and hospitality. As a result, irrespective of their size, organisations maintain full control over their access policy, without disrupting everyday processes.

The cluster is an excellent example of the opportunities offered by digitalisation and remote service provision. In 2023, the Access & Security cluster took its first steps abroad, as part of its overall ambition to expand this form of service to various countries across Europe.

Building Intelligence

Unica Building Intelligence integrates all technical systems in a building using intelligent building automation. The monitoring, uniform presentation and management of all technical building functions results in an optimum interior climate, smoothly performing systems and an excellent user experience.

The strength of Unica Building Intelligence was reflected in 2023 in the order to carry out a major renovation at the Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) in Apeldoorn. This was in fact the largest order awarded to the cluster, to date. At two different locations with multiple office blocks, all technical measurement and control systems will be removed and replaced by a new system, in phases. Also in 2023, the portfolio of this cluster was expanded to include the Building Insight platform. This platform was developed by Unica Innovation Center, an independent strategic division of the company, which following its further professionalisation can now be placed onto the market, as a fully fledged solution.

Energy Solutions

With its team of dedicated specialists that help organisations to make their real estate and/or systems more sustainable and save energy, Unica Energy Solutions guides its customers through the ever changing energy landscape. The cluster offers advice for and supervision through integrated energy issues, from energy purchasing and energy generation through to (dynamic) energy management and building sustainability.

The acquisition of Tenergy and Engine Competences Services (ECS) was the most important milestone for 2023. The software platform developed in house at Tenergy establishes a connection between the energy market and adjustable technical systems, and as such makes a contribution to solving the imbalance problems on the national electricity grid. Our technical portfolio has also been expanded to include specialist overhaul and maintenance activities for cogeneration systems. This development could also contribute to smart buffering for the emergency power market.

ICT Solutions

Unica ICT Solutions opens up the world of digital opportunities to its customers, by building platforms, infrastructures and environments in which ICT systems live up to their expectations. The aim is to create workplaces at which users can work more effectively and more efficiently, as well as generating more value and insight from their data. These services are backed up by a large and expert service and management team.

For many of the customers of Unica ICT Solutions, it is essential that key company data be stored in Dutch datacenters. With our own equipped datacenter, we are able to satisfy that requirement. In 2023, for example, we provided this service for financial service provider Vesting Finance. The primary data environment is housed in our datacenter that complies fully with the policy demands and rules and regulations imposed De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) on financial service providers. Vesting Finance also relies on Microsoft’s robust cloud platform. Our specialists have securely linked these two cloud environments and are responsible for overall management. This allows Vesting Finance to benefit from the optimum combination of proven international cloud solutions, and a data environment equipped in compliance with Dutch legislation.

Industry Solutions

Unica Industry Solutions delivers turn-key total solutions to various industrial sectors including the food industry, pharmaceuticals, light chemicals and the logistics and distribution markets. The services provided by this business cluster include software, electrical engineering, process technology, mechanical engineering and refrigeration and climate-control technology. These five industrial specialisations can be offered individually and in combination.

2023 saw solid growth in the field of Integrated Solutions. According to this market approach, we develop issues proposed by our industrial customers into concepts, which we then fully implement and follow up with 24/7 all-in service. Our customers are served from a single point of contact, responsible for all harmonisation issues between the various technical disciplines, thereby delivering overall clarity of service. An industrial electricity balancing model was also launched, to improve the balance between supply and demand on the Dutch high-voltage grid. The result is improved stability in power supply while at the same time achieving considerable benefits and savings for the customer.

Datacenters

For more than twenty years, Unica Datacenters has been the number one specialist in the Netherlands for the design, realisation, maintenance and modification of intelligent and advanced datacenters and IT infrastructures. Thanks to our knowledge and years of experience, we operate as main contractor for the realisation of datacenters and as all-round service provider for the optimum use of datacenters in the Benelux countries and Germany.

Datacenters are an essential link in the modern digital world. Although energy intensive, thanks to their size, huge economies of scale can be achieved by implementing energy-saving measures. With that in mind, during construction and maintenance, we focus on energy and water saving, the reuse of residual heat and special cooling techniques. The cooperation announced in 2023 with Asperitas, a company that cools server racks with a special liquid instead of air thereby achieving considerable energy savings, is an excellent example of a sustainability solution that delivers significant impact in respect of residual heat.