Security contract for the City of Dordrecht awarded to SERIS once again
SERIS has once again been awarded the contract for security services for the municipality of Dordrecht. In April of this year, we were awarded a European tender for the continuation of security services for five municipalities in the Drechtsteden region: Dordrecht, Hardinxveld-Giessendam, Papendrecht, Alblasserdam, and Zwijndrecht.
We were already working for these municipalities, but a European tender requires you to substantiate everything from scratch. For this contract, you submit a bid based on a comprehensive set of quality requirements and pricing criteria, and you win or lose based on what you actually submit. Continuity matters, but only if it can be demonstrated.
We’ve taken this very seriously. We’ve focused on the quality we’ve been delivering for years and on how we want to further enhance it. This includes the strategic use of technology to support our security staff and new ways of sharing knowledge within the team.
We won. But what made it truly special wasn't just the result.
The Dordthuis as an extension of the commission
The new contract includes a significant addition: security for the Dordthuis. The building on Spuiboulevard is set to open in 2026 and will serve as the new home for the City of Dordrecht, the AanZet Library, the Drechtsteden Social Services Department, and the tourist office.
The Dordthuis was designed by the Danish architectural firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects and won the 2024 Global Architecture & Design Awards in the Public Buildings category even before its completion. It is an open, public building featuring wooden structural elements, terracotta facades, glass in Dordrecht’s signature colors, solar panels integrated into the facades, and an accessible rooftop garden.
For this project, that represents a significant expansion. A new landmark in the city, with daily foot traffic of all kinds. Security in such an environment requires visibility, a calm presence, and people who understand when they need to be there and when they don’t.
A company that started in Dordrecht in 1915 will soon be providing security for the city’s most talked-about new building. It sounds like a made-up story, but it is simply the result of a European tender and more than a century of expertise.
Security in Dordrecht: a journey back to 1915
SERIS Netherlands took its current form through a series of acquisitions. In 2010, we acquired the Perfect Group in Rotterdam and Correct Bewaking. This was followed in 2011 by the acquisition of ANVD, the Algemene Nacht Veiligheid Dienst in Dordrecht. Stipt Beveiliging joined the group in 2019.
The ANVD forms the foundation of our long-standing role in Dordrecht’s security. The organization was founded in Dordrecht, had its headquarters there, and operated for decades in the region where we are now active. The only question was: how far back does that history go?
Through digitized telephone directories, the Dordrechtsche Courant, notarial records, police archives, and literature on the early security industry, we arrived at the year 1915. The archival research is not yet complete; documents at the Dordrecht Regional Archives and the National Archives still need to be physically examined. But the main outline is in place, supported by specific archival references.
In the archives of the Dordrecht Municipal Police, archive number 711 at the Dordrecht Regional Archives, there is inventory number 89: the license granted to M. Dammers to operate a night security service, including his appointment as an unpaid municipal constable.
Dammers is thus the earliest known name associated with private security in Dordrecht. He is believed to be the founder of what later became the ANVD.
The ANVD was founded in 1915. SERIS is the direct successor to that company. That means 111 years of proven security in Dordrecht.
Permit number ND21 and what it says about continuity
SERIS Netherlands holds license number ND21. Under the Private Security Organizations and Investigation Agencies Act, every security company in the Netherlands must hold a license from the Ministry of Justice and Security.
Those license numbers were issued sequentially. The lower the number, the earlier an organization was listed in the registry. ND21 means that SERIS was the 21st security company in the Netherlands to receive a license.
The sector now includes hundreds of licensed organizations. Of the twenty organizations that existed before ND21, only a few are still active. The fact that this organization still exists and is based in Dordrecht is entirely due to the ANVD’s continuity throughout the twentieth century.
How security worked in Dordrecht around 1915
By the end of the nineteenth century, night watchmen had disappeared from many towns. The police were focusing on other duties. Business owners with warehouses, shops, and offices were often left to fend for themselves at night.
Private night security services emerged in that context. First in Amsterdam (1902), then in Rotterdam (1905), Haarlem (1909), and in 1915 in Dordrecht.
The system was simple and effective. Uniformed security guards patrolled set routes at night, recorded their observations, and clocked in at designated checkpoints. Customers could verify the next morning whether the patrol had actually taken place.
In Dordrecht, then a port city with nearly 50,000 residents, M. Dammers began his rounds. The city carried on as usual, even while Europe was at war. So did security.
We don’t yet know where its first office was located. What we do know is that the ANVD later established itself at locations such as Toermalijnring 100 on Dordtse Kil III and Callistolaan 12, close to the port and industrial areas. SERIS is still located on the west side of Dordrecht today, also near the ports.
Groei, overnames en een vaste basis in Dordrecht
In April 2011, SERIS Security acquired ANVD. At that time, the company had approximately 250 employees and annual revenue of 10 million euros. Its range of services included property security and fire watch services, as well as corporate investigations and training.
SERIS Security is part of an independent European group operating in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Poland. In the Netherlands, Perfect Group, Correct Bewaking, ANVD, and Stipt Beveiliging together form SERIS Netherlands.
The headquarters remained in Dordrecht. Not out of sentimentality, but because continuity also requires a physical location.
Security Today: Presence, Expertise, and People
SERIS Netherlands has over 500 employees and operates in the Randstad, North Brabant, and Zeeland. In the Drechtsteden and Rotterdam regions, we are the market leader in mobile surveillance.
Our security guards patrol industrial parks, office complexes, and public facilities day and night. They are there when something goes wrong, but especially when everything is going well. Visibility acts as a deterrent. Their presence helps prevent incidents from occurring.
In addition to property security and mobile surveillance, SERIS Facility provides reception and hospitality services. The first encounter at the front door often shapes people’s perception of an organization. Our staff combine hospitality with security, without making it feel like a checkpoint.
What we don't know yet
The investigation is not yet complete.
We know when the ANVD was founded, who its first president was, and how the organization developed. But there are still unanswered questions about the years in between—regarding clients, growth, and World War II.
The answers lie in the archives. Once we find them, we’ll tell the rest of the story.
This was the moment to tell them
You don’t win a European tender based on past performance. You win based on demonstrable quality, reliability, and consistency. Even when a partnership has been in place for years, everything is up for review.
The contract award for security services for the municipality of Dordrecht, including the Dordthuis expansion, was the moment for us to document the story. Not as a campaign, but with sources and facts.
Permit number ND21.
M. Dammers.
1915.
The next time you’re at the Dordthuis to pick up a passport, borrow a book, or have a cup of coffee on the rooftop garden, you’ll be in a building managed by a security firm that got its start in Dordrecht during the height of World War I.
That’s us.
And we’re not going anywhere.
