Dutch Barrier Services is a relatively new name in the live events sector. However, the team is made up of familiar faces and industry stalwarts, driving the company to new heights. Having started from its Netherlands headquarters, the company has quickly established a global presence through servicing tours – building on relationships across Europe and beyond.
TPi visited its HQ in Emmeloord, Netherlands, to get an insight into its exponential growth and discover what the future looks like for the full-service safety provider.
“It started as a hobby that spun out of control,” Cees Muurling, Managing Director at Dutch Barrier Services, began. “When we were in the first stages of the company during COVID-19, we knew that barriers were a niche product and thought we might sell or rent 200 units a year, and by the summer of 2022, after beginning the manufacturing processes that year, we had produced 1,200 units.”
The Emmeloord site spans 14,000sqm with 5,000sqm in warehouse space, which the company occupied in August of 2022. “It’s too small,” Muurling said, frankly. “This is with us just focussing on Europe too, before we even factor in any other potential continents.”
In the first couple of years after the COVID-19 pandemic, as audiences were once again allowed to gather, live events made a welcome return on a large scale. Dutch Barrier Services was able to establish itself as a key player during this period. “One of the greatest challenges in business is simply getting people to take notice of your products,” Muurling explained.
“With a high-quality product like ours, we were confident it would be well received, so the increased demand worked very much in our favour as a company. Bringing together decades of experience during development meant that we could have a system that considered everything from sustainability, to manufacturing process, to ergonomics and logistics.”
Efficiency, from the manufacturing process through to implementation on the road is key to Dutch Barrier Services’ products, Muurling said, demonstrating how only one size bolt is required to install a full size system whereas existing systems use multiple bolts, which makes life complicated on the road.
“We wanted to make it as simple as possible to plug together so that tours and festivals can minimise crew numbers and time deploying the barriers,” he added. “We also have an efficient dolly system, which means that crew members are lifting the unit off at a lower height, so their arms are at a right angle, which is an improvement for health & safety.”
The aluminium the company sourced has the lowest carbon footprint on the market – certified with a maximum of 4.5 kg CO₂ per kilogram of aluminium, compared to a traditional footprint of 10 to 22 kg CO₂ per kilogram. “We never cut corners cosmetically, and the same principle applies for safety and quality,” he stated. “We source our sheet metal from Speira, an aluminium rolling and recycling company in Norway. It costs more, but we believe that as a factory and company, we should be as sustainable as possible.”
Stanley Jilesen – Senior Account Manager for International Festivals, Touring and Sales at Dutch Barrier Services – oversaw several tours featuring the company’s solutions, which included Billie Eilish, Indochine, Imagine Dragons, Usher, Benson Boone, Twenty One Pilots and Metallica. “Stanley has built up his connections through his entire time in the industry, and thanks to him talking to touring staff on a daily basis, we’re in the position that we’re in now,” Muurling said, revealing that Jilesen was in Japan, supporting a project, at the time of TPi’s visit to the Netherlands.
So, what does the future look like for Dutch Barrier Services? Muurling admitted that the ever-growing size of productions is not lost on the company. “Artists want to get closer than ever to their fans, which means stages designed with shaped thrusts and B stages to get closer to their audiences, as seen in the Benson Boon tour Dutch Barriers supplied as well as VIP spaces, like golden circles, are becoming more complex, which we love because it means more barriers,” Muurling enthused. “We’re also seeing more demand in artists wanting platforms integrated onto our barriers, so they can be a metre away from the audience – but we are happy to assist, whatever they want, or need.”
With ambitions for further expansion in the UK, new ventures in the Middle East and plans to explore markets in India, Asia or elsewhere in the world, Muurling is appreciative to be leading this chapter in the company’s short history.
“We never expected to grow this quickly – it feels as though it’s happened overnight,” he said, earnestly. “We are proud to manufacture great barriers, create innovative ways for event personnel to implement our equipment – efficiently and safely – and to provide on-the-ground whenever its needed. Seeing productions choose our products, and return to them, based on the quality, our team, and approach feels like the ultimate reward.”
Words: Alicia Pollitt
Photos: Graham Brown
