EPCM - efficient implementation of complex construction projects

At Drees & Sommer, EPCM extends general planning. We unite planning, consulting, and management services to provide holistic support for your projects.

Our experts use proven methods such as lean management, modularization, and digitalization. These processes, including BIM, reduce complexity, minimize interfaces, and simplify coordination. Our approach enables efficient and economical implementation of your construction and real estate projects.

ECONOMIC AND FUTURE-READY

Real estate, infrastructure, and industry often face skilled labor shortages, poor coordination, and flawed tendering processes.

EPCM minimizes interfaces, boosts transparency, and simplifies project coordination:

Real Estate

Our EPCM experts deal with the specific requirements of the real-estate segment: We understand that real estate is right at the core of your business model, so that you place particular importance on cost commitments, effective schedules and compliance with qualities as agreed. Using EPCM, we deliver customized solutions from a single source.

Infrastructure

The development of infrastructure projects calls for precise coordination between all parties involved, as well as an extensive and detailed understanding of rising construction costs, regulatory pressure, technological advances and sustainability standards. Using our EPCM approach, we are continually aware of these specific challenges, which we keep in mind to ensure that your project will be economically efficient and future-proof.

Industry

Within the industrial sector, the attention of our EPCM experts is focused on the specific needs of production and processing facilities: efficiency, technological innovation and integration of the latest safety standards. These factors are their top priorities. Our EPCM service package provides a way to ensure that you meet your budget and scheduling targets and comply with the agreed quality criteria. This is how you can future-proof your operations.

A ONE-STOP SHOP FOR CONSTRUCTION, REAL ESTATE, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND INDUSTRY

Our experts provide comprehensive planning, consulting, and management from a single source. Clients work with one contractual partner beyond the construction firms. This dynamic significantly reduces complexity, risk, and internal project costs.

WE DELIVER SOLUTIONS BASED ON YOUR NEEDS

With EPCM, we create holistic solutions uniquely built around your requirements. Our approach includes Lean Design Management and Construction, modular designs, and Building Information Modeling (BIM).

Our planning and construction approach is modular. We simplify project coordination, effectively reducing interfaces and creating transparency, allowing you to make informed decisions.

METHODS IN THE EPCM FRAMEWORK

By modularizing building design, we significantly reduce its complexity and increase the quality of planning and implementation. This method saves costs, time, and resources without compromising individual ideas or the property’s flexibility.

With Building Information Modeling (BIM), we ensure consistent and coordinated planning quality, a basic prerequisite for any successful project. Another key aspect of BIM is planning transparency, which involves the client and increases mutual understanding within the project team. Ensuring seamless data handovers to contractors and involving them early on makes planning and construction smooth and simpler.

Lean is our mindset. Our fundamental approach avoids waste while maximizing transparency and learning. We keep our eye on the goal and accelerate processes accordingly. For this, we consider everyone involved and integrate them early in the process.

WHAT YOU GET

Smooth handling through holistic coordination of interfaces
Decades of experience with complex, large-scale projects
Experts with a 360-degree perspective
End-to-end skills from planning to handover
Balance focus on both cost-effectiveness and sustainability
Lean, digital, and modular concepts
Full transparency throughout planning and delivery
Strong teamwork and collaboration
In-house expertise plus long-standing cooperation partners

DIGITAL PARK FECHENHEIM FRANKFURT AM MAIN

Digital Realty

Data Center FRA18-22

A modern data center campus is in development at the former Neckermann site in Frankfurt am Main. With this new construction, our client Digital Realty, formerly Interxion, will unite Frankfurt's largest data centers under one roof.

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Press 12/11/2025

From Coal to Green Hydrogen: Drees & Sommer Coordinates Construction of the Hamburg Green Hydrogen Hub

Conversion work is progressing rapidly at the former Moorburg coal-fired power plant site, where commercial hydrogen production is planned to begin in 2027. © Drees & Sommer

Hamburg, November 12, 2025. Hamburg is taking a major step toward decarbonizing its industrial sector with the construction of the Hamburg Green Hydrogen Hub (HGHH), a large-scale facility featuring a 100-megawatt electrolyzer. Drees & Sommer, a global consulting company active in the real estate, infrastructure, and industrial markets, is responsible for project, construction, and engineering management on behalf of consortium partners Luxcara and Hamburger Energiewerke.

Precise planning for complex technology

Drees & Sommer has been commissioned by HGHH to provide technical project and engineering management for the 100-megawatt electrolyzer. This includes coordinating the various disciplines – from planning and execution through to preparation for commissioning.

Leading the implementation is the team headed by Alexander Stubinitzky, Head of Hydrogen and Synfuels at Drees & Sommer, which coordinates the different companies responsible for planning the individual plant components.

“Building a hydrogen production plant involves far more than just the electrolyzer. We coordinate all disciplines, from civil and structural engineering to process, electrical and automation engineering, and ensure that planning, assembly, quality assurance, and commissioning are fully integrated,” says Stubinitzky. “We also draw directly on our experience from other large-scale projects, such as the 320-megawatt electrolysis plant in Emden and the e-fuel test platform for the German Aerospace Center in Leuna, for instance in optimizing interfaces and workflows.”

Hydrogen as the key to climate neutrality

“If we want to produce CO₂-neutral products, supply chains and production also need to be CO₂-neutral. Hydrogen is a key technology for reducing emissions, especially in energy-intensive sectors such as industry and transport. The HGHH shows how this transition can be successfully achieved,” emphasizes Alexander Stubinitzky. “For the energy transition, it is crucial that projects are implemented efficiently. The faster plants are connected to the grid, the sooner they can contribute to CO₂ reduction.”

Preparatory construction work for the HGHH’s 100-megawatt electrolyzer has been underway since mid-2025 on the site of the former coal-fired power plant in Hamburg-Moorburg. Commercial hydrogen production is scheduled to begin in 2027. Once operational, the facility is expected to produce up to 10,000 tons of green hydrogen annually, powered entirely by renewable energy sources.

Part of the European hydrogen strategy

The HGHH is one of the so-called Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI), projects that receive targeted EU support because they advance strategic goals of the energy transition. According to the European Commission, 22 EU Member States plus Norway jointly design and coordinate the IPCEIs on hydrogen. In Germany, there are 62 hydrogen-related IPCEI projects, with costs shared between the federal government and the respective federal state.

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EPCM - efficient implementation of complex construction projects