History

FCP stands on strong foundations — professionally, internationally and in terms of its people. With greater turnover and recognition than ever before, a broad leadership team and a unique team spirit, the company looks to the future with confidence. 65 years after being founded by Kurt Wenzel, what began with three employees has grown into an international engineering firm — and the story continues.

The management level grows to 16 people — a sign of the company's increased complexity and ambition. At the same time, FCP begins to articulate its purpose deliberately: what do we stand for? What drives us? These questions become a shared project for the entire organisation. The Koralmbahn project also reaches a successful conclusion after more than three decades of involvement. FCP also surpasses the 450-employee mark for the first time.

Günther Achs and Joachim Lanschützer join the management board in 2021. Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022, FCP responds with solidarity: a flat is rented for a refugee family, and employees donate towards furnishings and aid organisations.

With the first KliNa Day in 2022, FCP makes a clear commitment to its responsibility as an engineering consultancy for active climate action. Highlights include the buildingSMART Award in 2021, and in 2023 the DPU® (Digital Project Environment) is launched as a commercial service.

When the first lockdown begins in March 2020, FCP switches its operations entirely to remote working within a matter of days. Despite a global recession, the company remains stable thanks to ongoing large-scale projects. With the launch of the KliNa Initiative, FCP embeds climate action structurally within the company for the first time. At the same time, FCP looks ahead: with the introduction of a dedicated Innovation Manager, the company establishes innovation management as a permanent part of its strategy.

To ensure that team cohesion does not suffer despite the physical distance, the company Christmas party is held digitally — and the Digital Engineering Day is broadcast via livestream. For this purpose, FCP sets up its own small television studio.

At the end of 2016, FCP relocates to its new premises in Marxergasse due to its growing headcount. Through a structured strategy process, a shared company vision is developed for the first time. The German market is also actively expanded — through the establishment of FCP Ingenieure Deutschland in Berlin and the acquisition of FCP IBU in Essen. Wolf-Dietrich Denk, a long-standing member of the FCP team, joins the management board. A highlight of these years is the ÖAMTC Mobility Centre being awarded the European Concrete Award 2018.

Whilst Building Information Modelling is still being debated across the industry, FCP hosts its first in-house BIM conference in 2013. The ÖAMTC headquarters is planned entirely using BIM — digitalisation is no longer an add-on, but a core strategic competency. In 2015, FCP designs the Viennese pedestrian crossing couples for the City of Vienna's MA 33 department on the occasion of the Eurovision Song Contest. They are picked up by media worldwide and become a symbol of openness.

When the global financial crisis of 2008/2009 hits large parts of the industry, FCP proves resilient thanks to a solid project portfolio and stable management — growing to nearly 200 employees during this period. Christian Nüssel joins the management board in 2010.

Among the defining projects of these years are the LKH Klagenfurt hospital, the new Vienna University of Economics and Business, and the VDE 8 railway line in Germany.

With 94 employees, it becomes clear: growth calls for collective leadership. Christian Eckerdorfer, Walter Nemeth, Dieter Pichler and Robert Schedler take on leadership responsibility and expand the management board.

FCP takes on overall planning and construction supervision for the new Messe Wien — a large-scale project that impressively demonstrates the company's growing breadth of expertise. In 2005, another major project follows: project management for Vienna Central Station, one of the largest mobility projects in Austrian history.

FCP – Fritsch, Chiari & Partner ZT GmbH is officially founded, with new partners expanding the leadership team. Milestone projects include the Lainzer Tunnel and the revitalisation of Vienna's four Gasometer buildings.

In 1996, BRIMOS® is developed — a bridge monitoring technology with which more than 10,000 bridge cables have since been examined. In 1999, FCP receives the Austrian State Prize for Consulting once again — this time for the Kao Ping Hsi Bridge in Taiwan, a cable-stayed bridge with a then record-breaking 330-metre cantilever.

FCP receives the Austrian Consulting Award for the Olympic Grand Bridge in Seoul — a cable-stayed bridge over the Han River. With domestic mountain motorway construction largely complete, FCP pursues strategic diversification: project management, inspection services and international consulting. In 1992, FCP takes on the transformation of the former Imperial Stables into the MuseumsQuartier Wien — one of the largest cultural complexes in the world.

With 16 employees, FCP takes its first international step: projects in Saudi Arabia and Libya open the door to the world and establish the company as a reliable international partner. From 1986, internationalisation becomes a deliberate strategy — new markets such as South Korea and Taiwan move into focus. In parallel, FCP takes on planning and inspection services for the Viennese U3 metro station Stubentor, demonstrating its competence in urban infrastructure as well.

In 1972, Kurt Wenzel develops a motorway overpass without a central support — known as the "Wenzel frame". The design allows for greater spans with less intrusion into the traffic space and quickly gains widespread adoption. FCP is not just a planning office, but a technology developer.

In 1976, Peter Fritsch and Gerd Chiari officially take over the company — ushering in a new entrepreneurial era.

When the paths of Wenzel, Fritsch and Chiari cross, a partnership is formed that convinces through expertise and lays the groundwork for the later identity of FCP. With the Brenner Motorway and the Lueg Bridge, the practices position themselves in the mid-1960s as innovative thinkers in bridge engineering — and demonstrate their strength at a major infrastructural scale for the first time.

With the founding of the civil engineering practice by Kurt Wenzel, a story of entrepreneurial courage begins. In a time of social change, three people lay the cornerstone for 65 years of engineering expertise.