MIPIM 2019 (24.1 MB)

Positions & Opinions
Construction is
a people business
Home & project markets. "I believe that the Austrian construction industry - and PORR as the market leader
- is taking on the role of a trailblazer in this area in the continental part of Europe,” says PORR CEO Karl-Heinz
Strauss in this interview with ImmoFokus..
interviewed by:Michael Neubauer
You took on the leadership of PORR in
2010. Which international developments
have occurred within the company since
then and where do you see PORR in 10
year's time?
Karl-Heinz Strauss: What I found was a
company that constituted an orchestra which
was not quite in tune and was playing in a lot
of concert halls it had no business playing in.
We have consequently looked very closely at
the markets in which PORR can demonstrate
its strengths. Since then we have developed
into a leading construction company within
our five home markets. We are the market
leader in Austria, in the top 5 in Germany and
Switzerland, and we are one of the leading
companies in Poland and the Czech Republic.
In these markets, we offer everything that a
construction company can offer - and PORR
has a very broad portfolio.
We also focus on the so-called project markets,
where we can exploit our expertise in
tunnelling, infrastructure and railway construction.
This has proven successful in Qatar,
Romania, Slovakia, Norway and England. We
have given up on all other markets in Eastern
Europe - Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia,
Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Montenegro
- in order to focus on the existing five
home and attractive project markets. However,
project markets are only attractive as long
as PORR can acquire worthwhile orders in
these regions. If this is no longer the case, we
will withdraw . We always have two or three
potential target markets with interesting projects
on our radar.
Currently …
… these are Sweden or Denmark, both heavily
investing in infrastructure. We can play to
our strength in railway construction with our
patented "slab track". In the next ten years,
we want to continue to strengthen our home
markets, that is, to be even more diverse.
PORR is a construction company and we re-
main a construction company. And we build
as much as we can ourselves. With this strategy,
we want to dramatically increase our net
value within our markets. However, this will
only work if we also can hold onto the knowhow
and invest in further training for our employees.
The competence of our own people is
irreplaceable. We have a variety of strategic
partnerships - that's a part of business, but
we're primarily focussed on the PORRians.
Let us briefly return to the home markets
of Germany, Switzerland, Poland and the
Czech Republic. Do the leaders of the respective
national companies come from
headquarters in Vienna or are you working
with local partners? Are you focussed on
organic growth or expansion through acquisitions
and takeovers?
Two thirds are organic growth and one third
is accounted for by additional purchases. We
tend to acquire in the markets we enter for the
first time or in order to obtain know-how that
10 ImmoFokus