Contact info
ReUse, Department of architectural engineering, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
PhD researcher
Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels (Building K, office 1.01) Jelena.Dobbels@vub.ac.be
Research interest
Architectural history, urban history, heritage, conservation of monuments and sites, general contractors, professionalization of the construction sector, 19th and 20th century
Current and past research projects in the field of Construction History
Construction History, VUB - Strategic Research Programs-Groeiers, 03/2014-02/2019.
Representative publications in the field of Construction History
J. Dobbels and I. Bertels, ‘General contractors on site. Contractors’ discourses on their position and organization, Belgium 1874-1958’, in E.-C. Heine & C. Rauhut (eds.), The non-Simultaneity of the construction site. Ashgate Publishing. (forthcoming)
J. Dobbels, I. Bertels and I. Wouters, 'The professionalisation of Belgian general contractors (1877-1914): an analysis of the construction journal La Chronique des Travaux Publics, du Commerce et de l’Industrie’, in: J. Campbell a.o. (eds.), Further Studies in the History of Construction. : The proceedings of the Third Annual Conference of the Construction History Society. Cambridge: Construction History Society, 2016, pp. 309-320.
I. Bertels and J. Dobbels, 'VBA 1936-2016. Van vereniging voor burgerlijke bouwkunde tot vertegenwoordiger van grote bouwbedrijven’, in: S. De Blieck a.o.. (eds.), 1936-2016 België bouwt. Brussel: Archives d’Architecture Moderne, p.10-33. Also available in French: I. Bertels and J. Dobbels 'ADEB 1936-2016. Quand une association du génie civil devient la représentante des grandes entreprises de construction’, in: S. De Blieck a.o. (eds.), 1936-2016 La Belgique construit. Brussel: Archives d'Architecture Moderne, 2015, p. 10-33.
J. Dobbels, ‘Review Hugh Ferguson en Mike Chrimes, The Contractors (Londen: ICE Publishing, 2014), 297 p., 978-0-7277-5830-9’, Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis, vol. 12/3, 2015, pp. 103-105.
I. Bertels and J. Dobbels, ‘Cataloging contractors know-how. An analysis of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century library catalogues of Belgian Industrial schools’, in: B. Bowen et al (eds.), Proceedings of the fifth International Congress on Construction History. ICCH2015: Construction History Society of America. Chicago, vol. 1, 2015, pp. 211-218.
