Rambøll Group

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Rambøll
Type Private
Founded Copenhagen, Denmark (1945)
Headquarters Virum, Denmark
Key people Flemming Bligaard Pedersen, CEO
Sari Kaikkonen, Chief Financial Officer
Beate W. Bentzen, Chief Development Officer
Industry Engineering
Consultancy
Management
Building
Infrastructure
Industrial processes
Telecommunication
Information technology consulting
Revenue ▲ DKK 529 million (2006)[1]
Net income ▲ DKK 34.2 million (2006)[1]
Employees 6,500 (2007)[2]
Website www.ramboll.com

Rambøll Gruppen A/S (also known as just "Ramboll") is the largest consulting engineering group in the Nordic countries. Ramboll is through its many subsidiaries and daughter companies, involved in a variety of international projects all over the world.

Contents

[edit] History

Rambøll was founded in October 1945 as "Rambøll & Hannemann" in Copenhagen. In 1991 the company merged with "B. Højlund Rasmussen A/S" into "Rambøll, Hannemann & Højlund A/S". The year 2003 was a turning point for the company; the merger with Swedish Scandiaconsult made it the largest consulting engineering business in the Nordics.

[edit] 1945–1991: A typical Danish firm

Rambøll was founded in October 1945 as "Rambøll & Hannemann" in Copenhagen. Børge Johannes Rambøll (1911-) received a degree in civil engineering from the Danish technical university DTH in 1935. In 1944 he defended his doctorate in engineering. He had worked for several different firms, amongst others Wright, Thomasen & Kier. In 1937-1944 he was employed by Professor Christian Nøkkentvedt at DTH, where he later also became a professor. Johan Georg Hannemann (1907-1980) completed his studies at DTH in 1930. He then took a position under Anker Engelund at DTH and worked for him part-time, also after the establishment of “Rambøll & Hannemann”. In 1947 they opened a branch office in Aarhus. Their first important work was with the Danish broadcast engineering services (Radioingeniørtjenesten), which at the time was erecting a large number of towers and transmitters. “Rambøll & Hannemann” designed and erected a lot of broadcast towers in Denmark and Norway after 1950. This field of speciality also led to their involvement in the work with high-tension-line towers for major power plants and work for the Norwegian telephone directorate. The number of jobs for the Norwegian national broadcasting company (NRK) increased and in 1976 “Rambøll & Hannemann” opened their first Norwegian branch office in [Oslo]. The company grew and their scope of work extended across a wide variety of projects in the 1950s and 1960s. They had 20-30 employees in the 1950s; this grew to about 170 in the 1960s.

[edit] 1991-2003: Nordic expansion

In 1991 the company merged with "B. Højlund Rasmussen A/S" into "Rambøll, Hannemann & Højlund A/S". The year 2003 was a turning point for the company; the merger with Swedish Scandiaconsult made it the largest consulting engineering business in the Nordics.

[edit] 2003-: International growth

The positive financial development in the Nordics has stimulated organic growth in Ramboll. In addition to this a lot of the daughter companies have made acquisitions of different sizes in their local areas. For instance the acquisition ofStorvik & Coin Norway, August 2006.[3]

In August 2007 Ramboll bought privately owned UK based engineering firm Whitbybird. At the time of the acquisition Whitbybird employed 680 people, with offices throughout the UK and in Italy, India and the United Arab Emirates, making this the largest acquisition made by the Ramboll Group since the merger with Scandiacolnsult in 2003.[4]

[edit] Ownership

All shares in Rambøll Gruppen A/S are owned by the Ramboll Foundation (approx. 95% of the shares) and by Ramboll Employees Shareholders called Ramboll Partners (approx. 5% of the shares). The Ramboll Foundation's main objective is to be main owner of Rambøll Gruppen A/S, and through that, to promote the company's continuance and development, financially as well as commercially. The Foundation may support research and education, in technical and scientific fields, in particular, with a view to promoting – directly or indirectly – the development of the company and the job satisfaction of its employees. The Foundation can also grant financial support in three areas: 1. Financial support for research, studies, and education, 2. Financial support for charity and purposes of public utility, 3. Financial support to former and present employees in difficult situations.[5].

[edit] Organisation

Rambøll Gruppen A/S includes Business Units with their daughter companies in several European countries, including all the Nordic countries, as well as companies and offices in the Baltics and project offices all over the world.

[edit] Management

The Ramboll Group Management Committee (GMC), comprising Group CEO, Group CFO and Managing Directors from the seven Strategic Business Units, is the operational managing body of the Ramboll Group.[6]

[edit] Business Units

  • Rambøll Denmark
  • Ramböll Sverige
  • Rambøll Norge
  • Ramboll Finland
  • Rambøll Management
  • Rambøll Informatik
  • Ramboll Oil & Gas

[edit] Other international units

  • Ramboll Russia
  • Ramboll Estonia
  • Ramboll Lithuania
  • Ramboll Latvia
  • Ramboll Whitbybird (Operates predominantly in the United Kingdom)

[edit] External links

[edit] Large scale projects

Satellite image of the Oresund Bridge.
Satellite image of the Oresund Bridge.

Ramboll is involved in many international large scale projects. They have for instance had a key role in the work on the Oresund Bridge (1995-1999), connecting Copenhagen, Denmark with Malmö, Sweden.[7] The bridge is one of the most important infrastructures in Denmark. The international European route E20 runs across the bridge, as does the Oresund Railway Line.

They were also involved in the planning and construction of the Great Belt Bridge (1988-1998).[8] This bridge connects Halsskov on Zealand with Knudshoved on Funen, 18 kilometres to its west, a two-track railway and a four-lane motorway had to be built, aligned via the small islet Sprogø in the middle of the Great Belt.

Ramboll was the leading engineer on the new Royal Danish Opera, The Copenhagen Opera House. [9] This was carried out between 2001 and 2004.

Ramboll is currently working on several projects concerning linking the infrastructure of the Nordic countries.[10] Among these are projects under the Trans-European Networks.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Ramboll (2007-02-22). "Annual Report 2006". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
  2. ^ Webpage. Ramboll (September 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
  3. ^ Rambøll Norge (2007-08-16). "Storvik & Co AS blir en del av Rambøll". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
  4. ^ Ramboll kops rival Whitbybird. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on 2007-09-13. 
  5. ^ Ramboll. "Ramboll Foundation". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
  6. ^ Ramboll Gruppen (2007). "Ramboll Group Management". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
  7. ^ ØRESUND FIXED LINK PROJECT (2000). Retrieved on 2007-07-04.
  8. ^ Contracts under EU-tender (2000). Retrieved on 2007-07-04.
  9. ^ THE ROYAL DANISH OPERA (2005). Retrieved on 2007-07-06.
  10. ^ E39 (2006). Retrieved on 2007-07-04.