Royal decoration for Bert Lavrijsen of LACO

Mr. Bert Lavrijsen just received a royal decoration, in the degree of Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau. Mayor Maarten Houben presented the ribbon at 't Strandhuys, Enodedreef 3 in Nuenen, as a conclusion after more than 50 years of career in swimming.

Nuenen Swimming Pool - LACO

Bert Lavrijsen joined N.V. Sportfondsenbad Nuenen c.a. in mid-1972 as a company director, and in 1987 he became self-employed and general manager of the swimming pool and recreation group LACO Recreatie B.V. and LACO International B.V. He championed the privatization and operation of (municipal) swimming pools and swimming associations. In doing so, he developed a new model in which he acquired the leasehold of the accommodation so that the risk of operation no longer lay with the municipality, thus keeping sports facilities affordable. His model was unique at the time and it allowed many municipal swimming facilities in small municipalities to be preserved, as well as specialized knowledge and local employment. Bert Lavrijsen is said to have been a pioneer and changed the industry permanently. Many children were able to get their swimming certificate close to home as a result. Indirectly, this saved many (small) local swimming clubs. Meanwhile, more than 1 million children already have their LACO swimming diploma. When the company merged with Sportfondsen Nederland in 2021, LACO operated more than forty swimming pools with over 1,000 employees.

Since 1975 until the end of 2022, Bert Lavrijsen has held board positions in numerous industry associations and worked to promote the industry's interests in both employer and employee associations, as well as swimming safety in the Netherlands. At the successive employer associations: Werkgeversvereniging voor Bad- en Zweminrichtingen (WvBZ), Recron (Vereniging van Recreatieondernemers Nederland) and WIZZ (Vereniging Werkgevers in Zwembaden en Zwemscholen).