The Heitkamp BauHolding GmbH with headquarters in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, is a Gmbh — equivalent to a limited liability company in the US or limited liability partnership in the UK — involved in specialized construction work in various construction sectors. It is a holding company with 1,200 total employees across all of its locations and generates US$365.77 million in sales. There are 6 companies in the Heitkamp BauHolding GmbH group of companies.

History

Today's Heitkamp BauHolding GmbH has its origin in the civil engineering company E. Heitkamp, which was founded in Herne-Wanne in 1892 by Engelbert Scharpwinkel. It originally had four employees. The company was originally known as E. Heitkamp. Towards the end of the 19th century, the

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

built canals and roads for the farmers in the neighbourhood.

1902

Heinrich Heitkamp, the son of E. Scharpwinkel, assumed the management of the still young construction company and expanded its field of activity by entering the mining business which was the characteristic industry in the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

area at the time. In addition, he entered into other ventures. In the following decades, its construction activities were expanded beyond the limits of Herne and its original sectors to include civil engineering, railroad, and infrastructure projects, as well as mining services. At that time, the projects included, for example, the new construction of the Herne railway station, the construction of the Chemische Werke Hüls in Marl, earthwork, canal and regulation work for the Emschergenossenschaft and the Lippeverband, the beginning of motorway constructions. In addition, they worked in shafting-sinking activities for regional coal mines, such as the Shamrock Mine, Unser Fritz Mine and others.

1946 to 1963

In 1946, the E. Heitkamp Tiefbaugeschäft in Wanne-Eickel was renamed to Bauunternehmung E. Heitkamp GmbH. His sons Heinrich and Robert became shareholders along with their father, Heinrich Heitkamp, Sr. Following the removal of war debris from their building, the field of activity was expanded to include other areas. Buildings for government agencies and the Deutsche Bundesbahn were constructed and in the early fifties, the company started providing special mining services with underground track constructions. In 1957, Heitkamp entered the power plant construction sector by executing a contract for the Westerholt power plant owned by Hibernia AG. For the first time, refuse dumps were used for the construction of dams and roads. Heitkamp participated in the complete expansion of the Ruhr expressway from

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

via

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

as well as in the new construction of the railway line between

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...

and Haltern am See. This was followed by a participation in the construction of the Henrichshütte 2

steel plant A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finished ...

in Hattingen as well as the Brassert power plant in Marl and the Springorum power plant in

. A patent was issued on 28 May 1958 for the track-tamping machine developed by Heitkamp for underground track construction. In 1960, Heitkamp entered the tunnel construction sector when the company built the Erbscheidt tunnel in the course of the Bigge dam construction. In addition, Heitkamp was awarded contracts for the construction of the Federal Ministry of Defence in Germany at the Hardthöhe in Bonn. At this time, Heitkamp employed about 4,000 people.

1964 to 1980

In 1964, Robert Heitkamp took over the sole management and expanded the family company in the next decades to become one of the largest construction companies in Germany. In the same year, Heitkamp built the first natural-draught cooling tower for the power plant in

Ibbenbüren Ibbenbüren ( Westphalian: ''Ippenbürn'') is a medium-sized town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Ibbenbüren is situated on the Ibbenbürener Aa river, at the northwest end of the Teutoburger forest ...

. This was followed by 53 cooling towers in Germany and another 38 cooling towers worldwide, including countries in the African continent,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. In 1995, in the course of the largest individual contract in the history of the company, Heitkamp built two natural-draught cooling towers for the Lippendorf power plant, amongst others. In 1998, they built the highest natural-draught cooling tower in the world, reaching 200 meters, at the Niederaußem power plant.

1970 to 1981

Heitkamp participated in national and international construction projects that included, amongst others, power plant and

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...

projects, infrastructure, civil engineering, structural engineering, hydraulic engineering, and mining projects. Heitkamp participated, among other companies, in the construction of the nuclear power plants in Brunsbüttel, Phillippsburg I and II and Brokdorf. In addition, they participated in the construction of nuclear power plants internationally in Tullnerfeld and

Zwentendorf Zwentendorf an der Donau is a small market municipality in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is located at , in the Tulln Basin on the southern bank of the Danube. The place attained public attention as the site of the only Austrian nuclear ...

in Austria and Gösgen-Däniken in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Heitkamp, along with the companies

Hochtief Hochtief AG is a German construction company based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.reprocessing plant in

Wackersdorf Wackersdorf is a municipality in the district of Schwandorf in Bavaria, Germany. It is famous for playing host to rounds of the CIK-FIA Karting European Championship. See also * Wackersdorf nuclear reprocessing plant *Anti-nuclear movement in Germ ...

. The construction, however, was stopped in 1989 for political reasons. They participated in German infrastructure projects including the participation in the construction of the subways in Berlin, Hanover, Bielefeld,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

and Munich. In addition, they participated in work on the Autobahn 42, the Emscher expressway and the

Autobahn 45 is an autobahn in Germany, connecting Dortmund in the west with Aschaffenburg in the southwest. It is colloquially known as the ''Sauerlandlinie'' (Sauerland line) as it runs through the hilly, rural Sauerland region between Hagen and Siegen. ...

, also known as the Sauerland line. Internationally, Heitkamp was involved in road construction projects in

Sanaa, Yemen Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governo ...

to Taiz, Yemen; and Taiz to the Red Sea. Also, they were involved in the subway construction in Vienna, Austria. Before it was stopped for political reasons, they took over the technical lead management during the construction of the first

channel tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

connecting

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

with

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

. They were involved with hydraulic engineering projects at that time including the construction of the Obernau dam and the redirecting of the

Neheim Arnsberg (; wep, Arensperg) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Hochs ...

. Their international projects included the construction of the Hofuf drainage project in Saudi Arabia and the construction of a drainage tunnel in Venezuela. Heitkamp expanded its civil engineering activities to include turnkey construction services. Heitkamp was involved in the construction of the 3-bay road bridge Zum Fürstenmoor that carried the road from Hamburg to

Harburg Harburg may refer to: Places in Germany * Harburg (district), Lower Saxony * Harburg, Bavaria * Harburg, Hamburg, a borough of Hamburg ** Harburg (quarter), the former Hanoveran city of Harburg upon Elbe, now a quarter of Hamburg * Harburg-Wilhe ...

, the Emscher bridge that carried the road from

to Deusenberg, and the Annener Berg bridge in the

Witten-Annen Since 1929, Annen has been a part of the City of Witten (since 1946 North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). As one of the eight boroughs of Witten, it is now called Witten-Annen. Before the incorporation with Witten in 1929, Annen was part of the admini ...

area. They also participated in the building of the underground parking lot at the Cologne cathedral. Heitkamp was involved in many tunnel projects in the course of the Bundesbahn high-speed line from Kassel to Würzburg. Heitkamp was also involved in the construction of the Olympic site in Munich. During that period, Heitkamp was also involved in the construction of the Technische Rathaus in Frankfurt, the construction of the Parkstadion in

, buildings for the

Technical University of Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

, work for the extension of the airports in Frankfurt and Hannover, the construction of the Lower-Saxon state parliament in Hannover, hotel constructions such as the Hotel Penta and Hotel Steigenberger in Berlin and the construction of hospitals for the Federal Insurance Fund for Miners in

Recklinghausen Recklinghausen (; Westphalian: ''Riäkelhusen'') is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and indus ...

and

as well as the clinical centre in Münster. In the mining sector, Heitkamp was involved in the construction of the shaft tower with reinforced concrete for the Consolidation 3/4/9 mine in Gelsenkirchen and the construction of the new An der Haard mine in the Recklinghausen district. At this time, Heitkamp also began with the removal, marketing and stockpiling of tailings from mines in the Ruhr area. The railway construction division constructed tracks for the Elmshorn-Barmstedt-Oldesloer-Eisenbahn AG. Internationally, it participated in the renewal of the railway line between Riyadh and

Dammam Dammam ( ar, الدمّام ') is the fifth-most populous city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca, and Medina. It is the capital of the Eastern Province. With a total population of 1,252,523 as of 2020. The judicial and administrative ...

in Saudi Arabia. Dr. Alfred Herrhausen became the first

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the newly created advisory board.

1981 to 1999

In 1981, the company employed approximately 8,500 people and achieved a turnover of approximately 1.1 billion DM. Robert Heitkamp retired from the operational business and passed the management chair to his son, Prof. Dr. Engelbert Heitkamp. Until the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

in 1990, Heitkamp expanded its field of activity in the

refurbishment Refurbishment may refer to: *Refurbishment (electronics) *Antiques restoration *Automotive restoration See also *Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property *Reconstruction (architecture) * Remanufacturing *Renovation Ren ...

, modernization and redevelopment of structures. One of their first modernization projects included the two city hall towers in

Marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...

in Westphalia. The

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

Heitkamp Umwelttechnik GmbH was formed in 1985. Because of the widespread introduction of mobile phone networks, Heitkamp built stations for the C-net of the Deutsche Bundespost and later for the private D-net. Heitkamp participated in the building of the Eurotunnel between Calais and Dover and in the construction of German subway and urban railway projects, notably in Dortmund. For the

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

, Heitkamp engineered several works to support the new Cologne – Rhine/Main line. During this period, the company participated in the coating of the outer shell of the natural-draught cooling tower at the cogeneration plant in Völklingen, the natural-draught cooling tower for the nuclear power plant Isar 2 in

Landshut Landshut (; bar, Landshuad) is a town in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also t ...

, the Hoheward railway tunnel at the Hoheward waste tip in Herten, and an

ICE train The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerla ...

wash facility for the Deutschebahn in Hamburg-Eidelstedt. In addition, during this time period, the company took part in the construction of subway structures in Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Duisburg and Berlin, among others; the construction of the A 560 motorway, the Hennef bypass, and the Autobahn 57 between Goch and the Dutch border; the construction of the interim storage facility for fuel elements in Ahaus; an apartment hotel, administrative building, medical centre, and supermarket at the Ungererpark in Munich; construction of the headquarters of the

Aral AG Aral may refer to: People * Cahit Aral (1927–2011), Turkish engineer, politician and former government minister * Coşkun Aral (born 1956), Turkish photo journalist and war correspondent * Göran Aral (born 1953), Swedish footballer * Meriç Ar ...

in Gelsenkirchen-Scholven; and the construction of the Daimler-Benz headquarters in Stuttgart-Möhringen. After the German reunification in 1990, Heitkamp participated in construction projects for the five new federal states and established offices in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

, Dresden,

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits in ...

, Magdeburg, Potsdam,

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

and Rostock. This includes, amongst others, rebuilding the new synagogue in the Oranienburger Straße in Berlin, coating the natural-draught cooling tower in Rostock, participating in the Markt Nordseite development in Weimar, reconstructing parts of the Dutch district in Potsdam, participating in the Siemens Microelectronics Center in Dresden, and the lowering of the Rheinufer-Tunnel in Düsseldorf and the extension of the A utobahn 2 in the Bottrop area. Mining construction activities included, amongst others, the coke-side dust removal for the Zollverein coking plant in

in addition to various projects in the Ore Mountains. In 1990, Heitkamp merged with Deilmann-Haniel GmbH. The construction activities of both companies were combined in the E. Heitkamp GmbH, while the mining activities were combined in the Deilmann-Haniel GmbH. The civil engineering projects of were moved to make up the legally independent subsidiary Heitkamp Erd- und Straßenbau GmbH.

2000 until today

In 2001, the activities of former Railway Construction Division were transferred to the independent subsidiary Heitkamp Rail GmbH. In this era, the company was involved in building the bridging structures (''Bügelbauten'') at the

Berlin Hauptbahnhof Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, ...

; the construction of the transparent factory (''Gläserne Manufaktur'') of Volkswagen in Dresden and the ''Zollernhof'' in Berlin for the ZDF TV Studio; the construction of the National Bank building in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

; the construction of the double water-saving lock in

Hohenwarte Hohenwarte is a municipality in the district Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, in Thuringia, Germany. Geography The municipality is situated in Naturpark Thüringer Schiefergebirge-Obere Saale on the Hohenwarte-Stausee. History Honewarte was first menti ...

; the modernization of the former Mannesmann high-rise building in Düsseldorf; the construction and modernisation of the Marstallplatz Munich complex on Maximilianstraße; the construction of the new Cologne – Rhine/Main line of the Deutsche Bahn; and the construction of a university building, including a library, for Malmö University in Malmö, Sweden. Due to a massive drop in

orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

in the mining sector and the increasing competition in the German construction industry, Heitkamp-Deilmann-Haniel GmbH decided at the end of 2005 to take drastic restructuring measures. In the course of these restructuring measures, the ATON GmbH acquired the parts of the domestic special mining and the international special mining division. ATON is today's Deilmann-Haniel International Mining and Tunnelling GmbH.

Heijmans Heijmans N.V. is a major European construction-services business with Dutch-based headquarters. History The company was founded by Jan Heijmans in Rosmalen in 1923. It was first listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in 1993. Operations The com ...

, a Dutch group of companies, acquired the Heitkamp Rail GmbH. In addition, the Turnkey Construction Office in

Ratingen Ratingen ( li, Rotinge) is a town in the district of Mettmann in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies in the northwestern part of Berg about 12 km northeast of Düsseldorf. Administration With a communal reform of 1975 the independent mu ...

closed along with the offices in Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart. Also, the civil engineering departments of the Bauunternehmung E. Heitkamp GmbH were combined to make up the independent subsidiary Heitkamp Ingenieur- und Kraftwerksbau GmbH. In 2008, the Heitkamp-Deilmann-Haniel GmbH was renamed as Heitkamp BauHolding GmbH, which is its name today. The Heitkamp BauHolding GmbH combines now the following four business areas: civil engineering and power plant construction under the Heitkamp Ingenieur- und Kraftwerksbau GmbH brand; infrastructure building under the Heitkamp Umwelttechnik GmbH, Heitkamp Erd- und Straßenbau GmbH brand; universal construction under the Domoplan GmbH, Heitkamp ProjektPartner GmbH brand; and special construction under the BuM Beton- und Monierbau GmbH, Bergsicherung Schneeberg GmbH, and Bergsicherung Ilfeld GmbH brands. Currently, the largest project abroad involves the construction of the

Olkiluoto nuclear power plant The Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant ( fi, Olkiluodon ydinvoimalaitos, sv, Olkiluoto kärnkraftverk) is one of Finland's two nuclear power plants, the other being the two-unit VVER Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is owned and operated by ...

in Finland. They were involved under Heitkamp Erd- und Straßenbau GmbH brand in the construction of the Lake Phoenix in Dortmund-Hörde as well as the widening to 6-lanes and modernization of motorways, including the

Autobahn 1 is an autobahn in Germany. It runs from Heiligenhafen in Schleswig-Holstein to Saarbrücken, a distance of , but is incomplete between Cologne and Trier. B 207 continues north from Heiligenhafen to Puttgarden, at the end of the island of Fehm ...

, 2, 40 and 42 motorways deserves special mention. They were also involved in the redevelopment of the

Kamener Kreuz The Kamener Kreuz was formerly a full cloverleaf interchange near Dortmund in North Rhine-Westphalia Germany where the Autobahnen A1 and A2 meet. It lies between the towns of Kamen Kamen () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in t ...

In February 2009, Jürgen R. Thumann, a great-grandson of the founder of the company, took over the majority of the shares in the Heitkamp Group. Since then, he has been the chairman of the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

. Heitkamp-Deilmann-Haniel GmbH changed its name to Heitkamp BauHolding. In 2013, the company relocated to a new headquarters on the Pluto site in Herne. In 2014, the Heitkamp bridge and civil engineering company was founded.

References

External links

Heitkamp BauHolding GmbH
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heitkamp Bauholding Construction and civil engineering companies of Germany Companies based in North Rhine-Westphalia Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1892 German companies established in 1892