Locher & Cie
| Locher & Cie AG | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1830 |
| Seat | Zurich , Switzerland |
| Branch | Engineer & Construction |
The Locher & Cie AG was one of 1830 active and 1998 Swiss construction company headquartered in Zurich . The traditional family business, which has been run for five generations, has implemented numerous important buildings and infrastructure structures in its 168-year history , particularly in and around Zurich but also in other parts of Switzerland. In addition to the construction of residential and commercial buildings as well as industrial buildings , the company specialized, among other things, in the construction of railway lines , railway and road tunnels , bridges , hydropower plants and dams .
The activities of the former Locher & Cie AG are now managed by Implenia AG in the underground and large-scale civil engineering sector . Locher AG Zurich , founded in 1998, takes over the divisions remodeling, renovation, maintenance, timber construction and engineering from Locher & Cie AG. The Locher AG Zurich is run by the sixth generation of Christopher Oechsle. The engineering office is constantly being expanded under the name Locher Ingenieure AG .
Companies
The company was founded in Zurich in 1830 by Johann Jakob Locher (1806–1861) and later expanded with a branch each in Aarau , managed by the Zschokke family , and in St. Gallen , managed by the Naeff family. In 1835, Locher's first major contract was to build the cathedral bridge over the Limmat in Zurich .
After the death of Locher-Oeri in 1861 and a temporary management, Locher-Oeri's youngest son Friedrich Locher (1842–1906) joined the company in 1867. As a result, the two branches in Aarau and St. Gallen were separated. From these emerged Naeff & Zschokke , initially managed by Adolf Naeff , which around 130 years later will play a decisive role in the history of the construction company. In 1872 Friedrich Locher's brother, Eduard Locher- Freuler (1840–1910), switched from the textile industry to the family business. The construction company was subsequently supplemented with an engineering and an architecture office .
At the end of 1904, the two brothers handed the company over to their respective sons Eduard Locher (1872–1931) and Fritz Locher (1874–1942), who ran it together with engineer Jakob Martin Lüchinger (1859–1933). The main activities at this time were in particular industrial construction, reinforced concrete construction as well as hydraulic and timber construction. The company was active abroad with the construction of hydropower plants in Syria , Northern Italy and Spain . During the Second World War , Fritz Locher's sons, Peter Locher (1909–1973) and Hans Locher (1903–1969), took over the management. These transformed the company into a stock corporation in 1958 .
In 1967 Peter Locher's son-in-law Dieter Oechsle-Locher took over management of the company together with Walter A. Schmid. The 1970s were characterized by strong residential construction, which made the company increasingly active in this area. In infrastructure construction, the transport sector was increasingly supplemented by the construction of systems for wastewater treatment and lake ventilation. Building preservation also developed into an important field of activity. In the last few years the company employed around 800 to 900 people and generated annual sales of 170 million Swiss francs.
Splitting up
In 1998, the Zschokke Group took over the underground / large civil engineering division from Locher & Cie AG, making it its largest division. The Zschokke Group emerged from the same Locher & Cie around 130 years earlier and developed independently of it into the largest construction company in Switzerland. In 2005 Zschokke merged with the smaller competitor Batigroup to form Implenia.
The engineering, remodeling, renovation, maintenance and timber construction divisions of Locher & Cie AG remained with the founding family and were brought into the Locher AG in Zurich, which was newly founded and has since been managed by Christopher Oechsle-Mächler.
Buildings
Locher & Cie realized important buildings under the management of all five generations of the family, especially in the area of infrastructure.
The most important buildings that were carried out under the direction of the company's founder include the railway line between Olten and Aarburg , the Olten and Aarburg stations, the railway line between Turgi and Koblenz and the Döttingen and Koblenz viaducts . In structural engineering , the masonry and stone carving work at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich , the construction of the daughter's school at Zurich's Grossmünster and the Villa Wesendonck in Zurich were the most important works.
Rail traffic and road traffic
In the rail sector, the spiral tunnel of the Gotthard Railway between Gurtnellen and Wassen , the narrow-gauge railway between Stansstad and Engelberg , the Sihl Valley Railway between the city of Zurich and the Sihlwald , the Pilatus Railway as the world's steepest rack railway and the Simplon Tunnel were built in the second half of the 19th century .
The tunnel later formed a general focus in the transport sector. In the second half of the 20th century, the Heitersberg , Käferberg and Hagenholz rail tunnels were built as well as the Seelisberg tunnel , Milchbuck tunnel and Gubrist tunnel for road traffic.
Bridge building
Bridge construction was another focus in the transport sector. In the second half of the 19th century, the SBB Reuss Bridge and the SBB Limmat Bridge near Turgi , the Limmat Bridges in Wettingen , the Linth Bridge in Ziegelbrücke and the Rhine Bridge near Reichenau were built . In the first half of the 20th century, the Reuss Bridge in Bremgarten , the Rhine Bridge near Eglisau , the SBB Aare Bridge in Bern and the Walche Bridge in Zurich were built. The Lopper motorway viaduct between Hergiswil and Stansstad followed later, as was the Hammermühle motorway bridge in Kemptthal and the Felsenau viaduct in the second half of the 20th century .
Building construction and industrial construction
The most important buildings in the field of structural engineering and industrial construction in Zurich include the Children's Hospital , the State Museum , the New Theater, the Escher-Wyss and Oerlikon machine factories and the headquarters of the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt on Paradeplatz , all of which are currently under the management of the second generation fall. In the first half of the 20th century the building of Amtshaus III and the Sihlpost in Zurich as well as the shoe factory Bally in Dottikon followed, and in the second half of the 20th century the building of the high-rise Hotel Zurich as well as the renovations at the ETH Zurich and the theater Zurich .
Power plants and dams
From the middle of the 20th century, the river power plants in Rheinau , Säckingen , Eglisau-Glattfelden and Schaffhausen , the dams in Rempen , Lucendro , Luzzone , Malvaglia , Mauvoisin , Sambuco and Santa Maria and the cooling tower of the Leibstadt nuclear power plant were built .
Project planning and construction management
In addition to the actual construction, project planning and construction management also formed an important business area. The most important projects and construction management include the Quaibrücke in Zurich around 1880 and, from the middle of the 20th century, the motorway between Zurich Airport and the city of Zurich, the 2nd stage of the expansion of Zurich Airport and later also the 3rd stage, Walenseestrasse , the motorway sections of the N3 through the Linth plain and the N13 between Reichenau and Thusis as well as the Kerenzertunnel .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry of the former Locher & Cie AG in the commercial register of the Canton of Zurich ( Memento from January 18, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b hole punch. Civil engineers and building contractors (PDF file) in A8 Info No. 3 Spring 1994, newspaper supplement “Obwaldner Wochenblatt” / Baudepartement Obwalden.
- ^ Markus Kaiser: Naeff, Adolf. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ^ A b c Peter Müller-Grieshaber: Locher, Fritz. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ↑ Entry of Locher AG, founded in 1998, in the commercial register of the Canton of Zurich ( page no longer accessible , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
