BKW expands engineering business with German architecture acquisition

BKW Group is extending its engineering reach into Germany with the acquisition of Gerber Architekten, a firm employing nearly 280 people. The Bern-based energy company announced the deal on Thursday, adding an architecture business to its building engineering division.

The move follows a recent expansion of BKW’s electricity generation operations. The company is now widening another part of its business, bringing a major German architecture practice into BKW Engineering. Gerber Architekten ranks among Germany’s largest architecture firms, according to BKW.

The acquisition connects BKW’s Swiss-based group with a firm that works across architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture and interior design. BKW says the combination complements its engineering division and creates opportunities to work together on projects in Germany and internationally. For the Bern-based group, the deal adds an established architectural practice with offices in several of Germany’s major cities.

Gerber Architekten has been shaping buildings and urban spaces since 1966. Architect Eckhard Gerber founded the firm that year, and it has since grown to nearly 280 employees.

The company’s main offices are in Dortmund, Hamburg, Berlin, Münster and Düsseldorf, with additional branches abroad. That spread gives the firm a presence across several German cities and extends beyond the country through its international locations.

Gerber’s breadth of work covers architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture and interior design. The range makes the practice a broader addition to BKW than an architecture-only business: its services span building design, the planning of urban spaces, outdoor environments and interiors. BKW said the firm is an ideal complement to its engineering division. The acquisition brings this established German practice into a larger network of engineering, architecture, consultancy and spatial planning firms.

BKW expects the two businesses to find room for collaboration on national and international projects. Gerber Architekten brings expertise in architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture and interior design. BKW Engineering groups those disciplines with engineering, consultancy and spatial planning businesses.

The combination creates a route for work across those specialties, BKW said. Gerber’s offices in Dortmund, Hamburg, Berlin, Münster and Düsseldorf add a German footprint to the wider group, while its branches abroad extend its reach beyond Germany.

For BKW, the acquisition expands the building engineering division with a practice that covers both buildings and the spaces around them. That broad range of services is central to the company’s stated case for the deal. The Swiss group says Gerber’s expertise complements BKW Engineering and opens opportunities for cooperation on projects at home and abroad.

BKW Engineering already spans more than 40 companies, 170 sites and over 4,400 employees. The network is the largest grouping of independent engineering, architecture, consultancy and spatial planning firms in the German-speaking world, according to BKW.

Gerber Architekten adds nearly 280 employees to that wider landscape and brings a substantial German architecture practice into the network. Its locations in five German cities, plus branches abroad, link the acquisition to BKW Engineering’s existing reach across the region.

The deal extends BKW’s building engineering activities while the Bern-based group continues to expand its electricity generation operations. The company presents Gerber as a complement to its network and points to opportunities for collaboration on projects in Germany and internationally. The acquisition therefore adds both a specialist practice and a broad set of architectural services to BKW’s expanding engineering business.