Hans Grassl was born before the two world wars and lived through both of them. Destruction and reconstruction were formative experiences of this time. He was born on 26 January 1908 in an inner-city area of Vienna, Austria, as the family’s only child. His father worked in textile retail; his mother passed away at a young age. As a schoolboy, he was fascinated by the hydropower plant in Kaprun, Austria, with its huge dam. In 1926, he commenced his civil engineering studies at the Technische Universität Wien. Bridge construction in particular sparked his interest. Following his graduation, Hans Grassl started working as an engineer at the bridge and steel construction company Waagner-Biro in Vienna, Austria, and Hanover, Germany, and was soon promoted to group leader for steel bridges.

In 1937, he was hired by the steel construction firm Rheinstahl–Eggers in Hamburg, where he worked for ten years and eventually became company director. Just before he turned 40, he founded his own engineering consultancy in Hamburg. When he was awarded the contracts for the design of three large bridges, he hired his first employees, and over the years the company turned from a one-man business into a successful medium-sized enterprise. Today, GRASSL is involved in the construction of numerous bridges in Germany, Europe and worldwide.

Between the late 1960s and the early 1970s, two of Hans Grassl’s three sons joined their father’s business. They gained practical knowledge in addition to the theoretical expertise obtained at university; Gerhard at the Munich office, Manfred at the Hamburg office. No one imagined that the fruitful collaboration between father and sons would last only one decade: Hans Grassl passed away unexpectedly in 1980, at only 72 years of age. Now it was the second generation’s opportunity to shine. And shine they did. And not only that – they also raised sons interested in the civil engineering profession, just like their father did.

Martin Grassl, Manfred’s son, joined the Berlin office in 2004. Hans Grassl, Gerhard’s son, joined the Munich office one year later. Today, Hans and Martin Grassl manage all the GRASSL offices, together with the authorised company representatives and office managers. The number of employees has been increasing steadily with the number of job contracts, especially since the mid-1990s. In 2017, GRASSL had 211 employees, today it has around 250. History continues, and we continue to work towards our goal of creating better connections for people.