"I am a fan of our profession" - Gergely Baumann Engineer of the Month

„It's a beautiful building, but it has divided both the profession and the public,” noted Gergely Baumann, Market Építő Zrt. technical director, as we took our seats in one of the imposing meeting rooms of MOL Campus. Our interview, conducted within the walls of Hungary's tallest building, revealed an exceptionally straightforward career path.

Heritage

When I was a child, there was no question of me becoming an architect, although there was some resistance from my parents. My mother is an architectural designer and my father was also an architect who worked in construction. I grew up next to my mother's drawing board, and by the age of 3-4 I knew the technical drawings and the material designations. And from the age of six, my father took me regularly to construction sites, so I saw very early on how technical drawings become reality.

So while I have carried architecture with me since childhood, my life has also been characterised by a duality: I have been attracted both by the desire to create and to design. I graduated as an architect and for a long time during my studies I was still hesitating about which direction to take.

Few people may think so, but these two fields of engineering are not that far apart. Both have creative and practical components - and the two activities support each other.

In a lucky case, it is a symbiosis where the designer tries to facilitate the construction and the contractor supports the designer with alternative solutions and practical experience. Such collaboration benefits all projects.

There is no impossible

For a couple of years during school, I turned to design: we also took part in an international student competition, which was run by the English Review of Architecture. It was a great success, I think 165 teams from 46 countries took part and we came third. Nevertheless, by the end of my studies I was already moving towards construction.

I started my career in a small business, but I had several friends working at Market who suggested I join. It was a sympathetic, up-and-coming, fresh-minded company where you felt there were no boundaries, only forward movement. There were young people working here who approached projects with the attitude: nothing is impossible. And I might add that this attitude has remained dominant ever since.

So I became part of a very motivated team, where I started as a site manager. From the very beginning I was in charge of several projects, while I also had the opportunity to work on larger ones, such as the Arkád in Szeged or the NAV headquarters. At the time, we looked up to the technical directors almost as demigods, respected their overall knowledge and work ethic - I had no idea I could be one of them. After 4-5 years, I realised that it could be achieved with diligence, because I seemed to have the knowledge.

I worked on bigger and bigger projects, such as the Takata airbag factory in Miskolc or the construction of the CEU building on Nádor Street and the Telekom headquarters. At the same time, the teams for which my colleagues and I were responsible also grew, as Telekom's 105,000 square metre office building, for example, is still the largest in Hungary. We worked there with a team of nearly 60 engineers, of which I was one of the site managers.

Road to MOL Campus

We attended an architectural exhibition in Milan with the company, where our CEO, Sándor Scheer, turned to me and said, "Gergő, a high-rise is going to be built in Hungary and you will be the manager. I didn't believe it, of course, but it was good; within almost exactly one calendar year it happened: he appointed me as project manager for the civil engineering of MOL Campus, so I was involved from the first move to the handover. We carried out the workspace demarcation and civil engineering works for the building, and at the same time we tendered for the civil engineering works. I was already deeply involved in this: I was involved in the preparation of the technical tender documents and in the negotiations. We won the contract, which we started with me as technical director of the project.

We worked for three years on this house, which was the most memorable project of my life. Not only because it became the tallest building in our country, but I can say with certainty that it was also the most complicated. With its structure, its details, its electrical or mechanical systems, it was like nothing anyone had ever seen in Hungary. The amount of cladding, the height of the lifts, the amount of concrete used, all put the MOL headquarters at the top.

Of course, the design was also full of unique engineering solutions, with the creeping turret or the one-piece construction of the base plate. In 40 hours we poured 4400 cubic metres of concrete, an amazing job. You could say it was the "leg", the house of engineering challenges.

As the manager of the construction team, I took decisions on all the details; I was also involved in all the background work: organisation, scheduling, even the node design. I had a hand in every last detail of what was done here - a great honour.

So naturally, this building has left the biggest mark on me, but I have many beautiful projects to work on to this day. The BMC (Budapest Music Center) building or the CEU building on Nádor Street. Despite their small size, they presented a myriad of engineering challenges; with junctions where up to 7-8 different materials meet.

Responsible for 2300 people

The best way to put it in figures is to say that everything about Market is a bit bigger than other general contractors in the country, as BudaPart is currently the largest high-rise project in our country: three times the size of MOL Campus, twice the size of Telekom headquarters in terms of the amount of materials, number of employees and floor space. On average, a chief construction manager directly manages 6-10 colleagues and a subcontractor workforce of roughly 2-300 people. I am the person primarily responsible for a project, so everything from contracts to finance to construction comes together in my hands. On BudaPart, I was involved in the pre-construction of six office buildings and I am currently managing the construction of four offices. I was also in charge of the demolition and construction of Körszálló, so

I currently have 110 people directly from the parent company, about 250 engineers at group level, and including subcontractors, I am currently responsible for more than 2300 people.

As an engineer, anything is possible

I miss it a lot, but I would say that we put as much effort into a small project as we do a big project, but the focus is different: a small project allows us to get more into the details; a big project is more about team management and sectoral planning. Although we don't see the smaller details as directors, the broader spectrum is just as varied and challenging.

I often look forward to the part of the job that no one else does: the rush and delivery of projects. It's always an incredibly fast-paced period, which inspires me a lot. This is probably what we are strongest at Market anyway: when a project is behind schedule, we pull together, delegate colleagues and do the impossible - there have been many examples of this.

We trust ourselves, the company and the team, so we've achieved things that no one believed we could. I would also say this to young engineers: this is the job where nothing is impossible. I'm an absolute fan of our profession and I think that's what it takes to be successful, to reach a high level and to make a mark in the world. You can do anything as an engineer.

There's always a bigger project

I like managing a lot of people, and at Market I can look back and see that I've been able to lead a bigger team every year. That's what really motivates me. I've had a lot of newcomers working under me and I can see that it doesn't matter if someone doesn't know how to build a structure yet. If you have the enthusiasm of an engineer and a love for the profession, you should have no problem.

We have several technical directors and I dare say: no two are the same. Everyone is strong in different things: one in the preparatory phase, another in the construction phase, another in the financial phase. They have one thing in common: they deliver a successful project; their team trusts them and follows them. And the most important of these is building trust.

Of course, as an ambitious engineer, I also have it in me not to want to build less or smaller than I had the chance to do before. It is always said when a big project is being prepared that this is the last stadium of this size, a high-rise building of this size, etc. Yet there is always a bigger building, a bigger job - I am optimistic about that. I think there will be more high-rise buildings in Hungary and I hope I can be there for all of them.