Stuttgart, Germany, July 5, 2022. A broad range of services, a strong focus on sustainability and investment in the company’s own future viability: based on these key success factors, Drees & Sommer SE continued to improve its business performance. The international planning and consulting company with headquarters in the Germany city of Stuttgart reported an increase in sales to EUR 574.5 million in 2021, up by eleven percent year on year. The operating result of EUR 68.8 million was 20 percent above the previous year’s level.
Mangement Board spokesperson Steffen Szeidl primarily attributes the good result to the company’s own resilience, in addition to the cautious planning in 2020 and the cost saving due to the reduction in travel: “A strong will to innovate and change is part of our corporate culture. This is the basis of our resilience. For this reason we closely cooperate with our clients and strong business partners in order to find innovative solutions and define new business models. Through joint research, close cooperation with promising startup companies, and with our clients and business partners, we drive forward a climate-friendly and digital transformation of the real estate industry. “With this in mind, the Group strengthened its position last year with long-term equity investments in and outside of Germany. The UK-based management and consultancy firm AA Projects, the building information modelling expert Die Werkbank IT GmbH headquartered in Vienna, Austria and the new working environments planning company vonhaveprojekt GmbH, domiciled in the German city of Hamburg, have been part of the Drees & Sommer Group since 2021.
Outlook to the Future: Climate-Compatible and Recycling-Enabled Construction
Drees & Sommer’s outstanding innovativeness and willingness to change is also showcased by OWP12, the new office building being built for the company’s own use at its Stuttgart campus. The net plus energy building was designed to be recyclable as far as possible. It generates more energy than it consumes in operation. At its opening ceremony, Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of the German State of Baden-Württemberg, and Stuttgart’s Lord Mayor Dr. Frank Nopper hailed the showcase project as a blueprint for climate-friendly construction, an inspiration for the entire buildings sector.
Drees & Sommer has been able to take advantage of its many years of internal experience in sustainable building on this project. Many private and public clients avail themselves of the company’s services for their projects focusing on decarbonization of the heating in existing buildings, resource consumption in new construction or conversions, and energy efficiency in operation. Moreover Drees & Sommer’s experts are advising cities, municipalities and companies on climate adaptation strategies, including protection against torrential rain, reduction of the carbon footprint and circular economy. In the face of climate change, it is imperative that companies invest in the sustainability of their buildings and infrastructure along with cities, towns and villages, and only construct new buildings in line with the appropriate standards. “In pilot projects we create comprehensive local building resource registers and/or develop digital building materials passports (BMPs) at the level of individual properties, as envisaged by the new German government in its coalition agreement of the governing parties. Building, renovating and operating property in a climate-compatible and recyclable way is an indispensable must-have nowadays. Those who do not move themselves will be moved – by regulation, or by social and economic pressure,“ emphasizes Steffen Szeidl.
Building on the Future: Green, Smart and Agile
Drees & Sommer’s spokesperson makes clear that combining ecology and economy in all construction and real estate projects the company is involved in, will also determine the Group’s future actions. He adds: “In the coming years, we will be addressing the question of how we can make established structures in cities more sustainable.“ Green, smart and a high quality of life – this is the triad of goals for a livable world for future generations. In order to limit soil sealing and land consumption it is necessary to promote short ways and the compact city even more: living, work and leisure are coming together.
The company’s interdisciplinary team of experts will develop urban solutions for realizing high-rise buildings that are green, smart and offer a high quality of life. In addition to these long-term strategic challenges of the built environment, it is important to succeed in providing clients with maximum support in the event of unforeseen developments. “The war in Ukraine has further exacerbated supply chains and material shortages that were already impacted by the pandemic. Rising inflation and energy bottlenecks are additional factors. Our congestion management task force is already working on solutions to make sure that the construction projects we assist can be successfully completed despite all problems,“ says Management Board member Dierk Mutschler.
Thinking Work Environments Anew
To ensure that people were able to continue working together without a hitch during the pandemic, workplaces also had to be reexamined as places. We put new work into practice not only in our own company. We also apply it to our client projects. “The one workplace no longer exists: it is supplemented by working from home and by a remote work office concept. The workplace designs that we develop are based on a work from everywhere guideline. As in all our projects, we trust in our employees’ knowledge and rely on their personal responsibility,“ explains Marc Schömbs, who also sits on the Management Board of Drees & Sommer SE. The Group’s success shows that Drees & Sommer is doing a lot of things right. During the slowdown in the economy, the company managed to continue its growth trajectory – thanks to a high level of resilience, innovative power and the flexibility of staff.
Note for editorial offices:
More information on the consolidated financial statements, a selection of lighthouse projects and the company’s focus issue entitled Strategies for a safe and CO2-free energy supply can be found in our Annual Report 2021: https://www.dreso.com/fileadmin/media/07_unternehmen/Media_Center/JB_2021_komplett_en_final.pdf.