In 1966 the terms "concern" and "service-provider" indicated that a change was taking place
in HOCHTIEF. The development of HOCHTIEF into a "concern" - a group of companies with
consolidated accounts - proceeded unobtrusively and was initially nothing more than a formality,
primarily of importance only to the accountants. In actual fact the establishment of a
consolidated Group was necessitated by an amendment to the Aktiengesetz, the German Act
governing the structure of companies of this status, in 1965.
The change implied by the terms "concern" and "service-provider" is inextricably linked with the
name of Albrecht Schumann (1911-1999), who became a member of the Management Board in
1966 and CEO in 1968, retaining this position until 1980. His successor was Dr. Enno
Vocke (*1925). Mr. Vocke had been on the Board since 1971, and was CEO from 1981 to 1992.
In the 1960s, a tendency to take on broader construction tasks
started to emerge at HOCHTIEF and proved to be significant to the step-by-step development
of HOCHTIEF. The beginnings of this development were typified by the terms "turnkey projects",
"general contractor" and "service provider". A key project for HOCHTIEF was the Athens Hilton
Hotel (1961-1963) in Greece. The Hilton Hotel was followed
by a large number of other turnkey projects.
After the years of the economic miracle, the growth rates in the German construction
industry started to flatten out and as early as 1966 HOCHTIEF's net income for the year
was only slightly higher than in the preceding year. The engine of positive development
was still the domestic German business, which from 1967 through 1975 stayed at or
above 80 percent, while foreign business only was recording slow growth. The reason
for HOCHTIEF's strong position in the German market up to 1975 can be seen from its
strength in the market for power station construction. As long ago as 1958, RWE
commissioned AEG, then still a major builder of power generation plants, to build the
Kahl nuclear power station in Dettingen, and AEG passed the order for the construction
work on to HOCHTIEF. More nuclear power stations followed.
The oil crisis changed the relationship between domestic and foreign business totally
andfor forever. While the quadrupling of oil prices in 1973 unleashed a crisis in many
industries, the construction industry benefited from the unexpected wealth of the
oil-exporting countries. The 1975 Annual Report recorded an increase in foreign
business and a decline in domestic business. This trend continued until 1980, when
HOCHTIEF's total construction output passed the DM 6 billion mark for the first time,
with its foreign business contributing more than half. The construction of
Jeddah Airport in Saudi Arabia (1974-1981)
contributed significantly to this result as the biggest single contract HOCHTIEF had
so far ever handled.
In the 1980s, however, the foreign business crumbled away visibly, but HOCHTIEF managed
to remain stable by expanding its domestic business. One ambitious building at
this time was the Torhaus in Frankfurt am Main, completed in 1984. After the lean years from
1986 through 1988, HOCHTIEF started once again to report clear growth.