Strategy

PORR’s strategy is derived from the vision “PORR – Home of Construction. To Build a Better World”. As Europe’s most sustainable infrastructure construction group, PORR offers clear solutions for all the challenges of today’s changing times. The strategic focus remains on expanding the company’s strong market position in Europe and on intelligent, selective growth with “Green and Lean”. Sustainable management is driven forward together with advanced technology and environmental and social responsibility.

PORR’s primary goal remains to achieve a sustainable increase in corporate value for every stakeholder. PORR delivers as many construction services as possible itself, thereby covering the entire life cycle of construction projects. It has a strong, Group-wide construction and skills network as well as extensive know-how in project execution. Combined with its strong market position, this allows it to utilise the full potential of a European company in the best possible way.

PORR has been around for over 150 years and innovation and diversity have always been the building blocks of its success. Climate change and digitalisation are this decade’s two most important challenges. For PORR as a company and for us as a society. The transformation in the construction industry and its environment requires flexible, resource-conscious and customer-oriented action. This is why PORR is focusing on intelligent growth with “Green and Lean”. This strategy lays the foundation for the company to remain consistently focused on profitability, growth and sustainability in an increasingly dynamic environment. It is based on four pillars: Company, Staff, LEAN and ESG.

Company - We inspire our customers. PORR is one of Europe’s leading construction companies. Its mission is to deliver first-class solutions for every construction and technology segment. PORR expects its markets to grow in the long term. The aim is to secure its leading market position in the long term by strengthening construction value creation in-house as well as its holistic solutions both as a general contractor and design-build provider. PORR is expanding its existing service portfolio through targeted, value-generating acquisitions. Selective orders contribute to an order backlog with good profitability. Above all, we want to be resilient and aim for sustainable profitability. A strong equity and liquidity position provide a stable foundation for this.

Staff - We build on PORRians. The five PORR Principles – Reliability, Shoulder to Shoulder, Appreciation, Pioneering Spirit and Passion – tap internal potential while promoting innovative thinking and short decision-making paths. Securing skilled workers and talent long term remains the top priority. With its own PORR Academy and start-up solutions in the e-learning sector, PORR consistently builds on its strengths from within its own ranks. Diversity, equal opportunities and performance are decisive success factors in the corporate culture.

LEAN - We rely on LEAN Construction. The more complex the projects, the leaner the company should be. As a technology pioneer, PORR is increasingly using connected and innovative solutions in planning and construction from a single source. With LEAN Design and Construction, the added value for the client is decisively optimised with the best possible use of resources. Supplemented by the multi-dimensional BIM model, processes for every design and build phase are becoming leaner and more efficient. At the same time, PORR is actively driving forward the development of future-focused, digital topics. This facilitates sustainable, profitable corporate growth and safeguards the future.

ESG - We unite economy, environment and society. Sustainability is a top priority for PORR throughout the entire construction value chain. It is an opportunity and not a contradiction. The aim is to be the market leader for resource-conserving, circular construction. Building blocks here not only come in the form of energy and cost-efficient construction, but also circularity. In addition, PORR fulfils its social and economic responsibility through various initiatives and measures. Ethical, fair and transparent action is not only in line with corporate principles, but also means stability in times of change and is synonymous with responsible corporate governance. This is the only way to build trust with stakeholders and to live sustainable business practices.

Climate change and digitalisation are two of the most important challenges of this decade. For us as a company and for us as a society. Climate change is an existential risk, but it, together with digitalisation, also offers huge opportunities for our generation. In the EU (Green Deal), in the USA (Climate Plan), in China (14th Five-Year-Plan) and globally (Paris Agreement), an economic realignment towards ecological targets has already been laid out. And we want to proactively shape this transformation as one of Europe’s leading construction companies. Because we are building change.

PORR has been around for more than 150 years and innovation and diversity have always been the building blocks of our success. And that will remain the case in future. We have developed the new strategy “Green and Lean” by applying our experience, the enormous knowledge base in the Group and the challenges of our time. It means the next step into the future.

What these three words “Green and Lean” – and yes, all three of them – mean in concrete terms:

• We will change the way people build.
• We will apply a holistic mindset and strive for a circular economy.
• We will promote partnering models.
• And we will be agile – with our lean management approach and in our operations with LEAN Design and Construction.

Green. means one thing first and foremost: responsibility. After all, we are not building for today and tomorrow, but for the day after that as well. We want to be the market leader for resource-efficient construction that fits within a circular economy. Our goal is to integrate construction processes into closed material cycles wherever possible. We want to increase the percentage of sustainable projects and strive for climate neutrality. This does not only relate to absorbing a significant part of the emissions already generated, but also using technologies of the future to reduce them.

That is why, from design and planning, in the construction process and in operations, as well as for renovations, we apply solutions that deliver a climate-neutral future. This is not uncharted territory for PORR. We have long focused on conserving resources and on environmental awareness. With clear success: in July, the renowned ratings agency ISS awarded us a best-in-class ESG rating. With a C+, we have achieved Prime Status, simultaneously becoming number 1 in the industry on our home markets. This is also what distinguishes PORR: being a visionary and combining this foresight with outstanding skill in implementation.

And. means more than the link between Green and Lean. After all, change can only occur when we join forces. That’s why we engage in partnering models in the construction industry. This facilitates integration into the various stages of the construction value creation cycle and utilises the leveraging effect: Good and meaningful aspects multiply. The project is assessed over its entire lifecycle (design, construction, operations and renovations) and then everything is offered as a one-stop shop.

The benefits are plain to see: maximum risk mitigation coupled with high security in terms of quality, deadlines and costs. We intend to strengthen this approach in future and apply it even more broadly. That’s our “And”: partnerships between everyone involved in a project, with common goals.

Lean. relates to the way our organisation is structured. Lean is seen in our management approaches and is applied in practice in our construction process with the help of LEAN Design and Construction. Lean may sound abstract, but it is already our reality at PORR – we have implemented a streamlined organisation with short decision-making chains this year. This includes digital efficiency and smart innovation. They are instruments we are using to expand our position as technology leaders. Digitalising value chains is more topical than ever before.

And LEAN Design and Construction are our future for operational construction processes. This approach should be understood as an integrated, continuous process. Projects like BMW Freimann clearly demonstrate this – the new BMW complex is genuinely a collaborative achievement. The client as well as PORR and our subcontractor partners worked closely together in the form of a partnering model from the design right through to the turnkey realisation.

As this shows: Green and Lean is more than a strategy, it is a milestone on the path to the future. It is the foundation of our future success and the basis on which we embrace our responsibility towards society as a big company. After all, intelligent building not only connects people, it also shapes our future.

The PORR 2025 future programme aims to sustainably secure the foundation for profitable growth and improve resilience to market cycles and geopolitical influences. Far-reaching targeted measures are being taken to adjust cost structures, the organisation and the portfolio. At the same time, growth topics and digital technologies are being promoted in order to secure PORR’s future viability.
 

Since its very beginnings, development and innovation have played a key role at PORR: at the start of the 20th century, the inventions of our founder Arthur Porr led to a significant breakthrough in concrete construction methods and formed the foundation for many prestigious buildings.

This passion for innovation has driven us ever since and is an omnipresent feature at PORR. Every PORRian makes a significant difference to PORR's future fitness through his or her ideas and creative concepts. The central point for further development is the "Technology Management and Innovation" department. It offers advice and support to our employees from the operating units. 

Our goal is to optimise the value chain by adopting a customised approach to innovative technologies: from project acquisition to design, calculation and construction, right through to the start-up and maintenance of a property. Here all of our measures have been implemented in such a way that they bring marked benefits for customers and end users.

One of PORR's greatest strengths lies in its pioneering spirit. As a powerhouse of the construction industry, we work with state-of-the-art methods and constantly apply new developments. LEAN Design, LEAN Construction and BIM have made us more creative, faster and more productive throughout the entire value chain. We are not working on the future, we are already working with the future. Go to "Services" for more information on LEAN Design, Construction and BIM.

In addition, PORR is involved in multiple committees in order to develop mandatory standards for the industry. We are determined to be proactive and make the most of every opportunity in this changing competitive environment, while cementing our role as trailblazers in driving the European construction industry forward.