Pittel+Brauswetter – a company with a distinguished history in Slovakia
The story of our company all began in Bratislava in 1870 when the businessmen and friends Adolf Baron Pittel and Ing. Viktor Brausewetter started to work together and established the Pittel+Brausewetter company. The young Viktor Brausewetter, originally from East Prussia, was working as a chief engineer in railway laying and his projects included building the Central Moravian-Silesian line and the Sopron-Bratislava-Žilina route, known locally as the Považská route. The young engineer proved to have plenty of skill and technical know-how in railway construction in modern-day Slovakia. The ambitious Brausewetter founded his own engineering office in Pressburg, as Bratislava was then known.
Adolf Baron Pittel was an experienced Austrian constructer with his own cement production capabilities catering for the newly emerging markets in roman cement. Baron Pittel was already regarded as a pioneer in the cement and concrete industry. The two friends and businessmen joined forces to explore the possibilities of construction with cement at the end of the 19th century. They recognised its future importance for construction and the impact the material would have on architecture and the wider economy. A wide range of construction techniques was tried out and patents were filed. Initially the company was mainly active in Slovakia. In 1880 the business duo proved to be particularly innovative in building the Bratislava sewage network. The new standards Pittel+Brausewetter set were then later used again by the company in building large parts of the Vienna sewage network. The pair’s pioneering work was recognised in 1890 with the award of the Golden State Medal at the agricultural and forestry exhibition in Vienna.
The industrialisation of Europe at the turn of the century created huge construction demands and would help propel Pittel+Brausewetter to become a major company within just one generation with more than 20 branches and numerous subsidiaries spanning the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The company’s list of showcase projects in Bratislava includes the Church of St. Elizabeth, known as the Blue Church, the Naval Ministry building (currently Comenius University) the well known Reduta Concert House (home of the Bratislava Philharmonic Orchestra), the Manderla tower building (the biggest building in Bratislava with 12 floors), the Central Market, the New Town Hall, the swimming pool in the spa town of Piestany (the first in Slovakia), the spa hotel there, the water tower and the colonnade bridge over the River Váh. Numerous constructions were also made for the emerging industry, for instance the Danubius sewing factory in Bratislava.
Two world wars left a permanent mark on the company’s development. The First World War brought about the dissolution of the monarchy and the detachment and selling off of branches and subsidiaries. The Second World War almost finished off the remaining part of the company. Nationalisation in 1948 terminated the operation of Pittel+Brausewetter as a company in Slovakia for some 43 years. A comeback came again in 1991 with the foundation of Pittel + Brausewetter s.r.o. From 1991 this newly founded branch began constructing again. In order to boost the position of the company in Slovakia and advance the long tradition, it was decided in 2005 to acquire TSS (Technické služby stavby s.r.o.). This local construction firm had a significant market share in civil engineering and road construction, its own asphalt-mixing plant and fully equipped construction yard.
In 2005 and the following years Pittel+Brausewetter built their present office building at Stará Vajnorská 1, making a spacious and modern company headquarters with offices and social rooms for 60 members of staff. A production plant for making and selling asphalt operates there. It is one of the most modern mixing plants in the city of Bratislava with a production capacity of around 120 tonnes of hot mix asphalt per hour. The Bratislava branch possesses a comprehensive client list which includes public awarding authorities and important private customers.
Pittel+Brausewetter’s near 150-year history in Slovakia and the Bratislava area in particular makes it renowned and valued for its quality, having established itself as one of the leading companies on the market. The management in Bratislava leads Pittel+Brausewetter as a modern and efficient construction company with extraordinary strengths in performance and resources, along with stringent quality criteria. The team in Bratislava is continually being strengthened by selective recruitment and training. Our staff are able to meet major challenges to ensure that no customer’s wishes are left unfulfilled.
Our publications on the occasion of our 150th anniversary in Slovak, German and Czech language
