As one of the leading civil engineering companies in Austria, Ingenos.Gobiet plays a significant role in the country’s architectural development. A more recent project, which is due to be completed in 2016, is the 850-bed Hospital North in Vienna.
This new hospital is being built on a former industrial site on the left bank of the Danube River and will provide high-quality patient services for the local population. “We are responsible for project management, liaising with the architects and building contractors, and ensuring that the build goes smoothly,” says Managing Director Andreas Gobiet, who founded the company in 1993.
Construction management on projects of this size is a hugely demanding task. Ingenos.Gobiet has a team of more than 110 employees from all areas of civil engineering who bring expert knowledge in their respective areas of expertise to this task.
“Our clients trust us to solve complex technical, economic and ecological tasks in an efficient and cost-effective way,” says Mr. Gobiet. “We can point to a long list of impressive references that confirm our track record of success in this area.”
This track record is not just confined to the Austrian market. Ingenos.Gobiet has also completed projects abroad, including the headquarters for OMV in Erbil, Iraq; a condominium and business complex in Split, Croatia; and several residential buildings in Turkey.
In 2014, Ingenos.Gobiet entered into a strategic partnership with the NIRAS Group, a Danish construction consultancy with over 1,400 employees in Europe, Asia and Africa.
“Through our affiliation with NIRAS, we hope to expand our activities in the non-EU countries on the Danube River such as Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia,” says Mr. Gobiet. “Although they are not part of the EU, they are receiving EU funding for infrastructure projects, which makes them very attractive potential markets.”
The association with NIRAS also allows Ingenos.Gobiet to network on a much larger scale than before and offer its services to a wider customer base.
In addition to project development and management, it also offers general planning, attendant controls, building and construction, planning of structural frameworks, mechanical and electrical planning, construction management, civil engineering planning, water management, river works development, energy and environment consultancy, and other special services. It is this wide portfolio that has won the company so many prestigious projects in both the private and public sectors.
“We aim for a balanced ratio between public sector and private sector work,” explains Mr. Gobiet. “Public sector budgets in Austria are dwindling, and austerity is biting, which is why we must diversify in the future.” Another challenge for the industry is a lack of qualified engineers. Mr. Gobiet sees the solution in encouraging more women into the profession.
“Women only make up between 5 and 10% of engineers in the EU but account for 50% in Iran. We have to change the image of engineering as a male-only profession. That would certainly help us achieve our target of expanding our team to 200 in the coming years. Another target is to increase the rate of foreign activities to between 30 and 50% per year by setting up field offices in promising markets.”
