Christiani & Nielsen

Christiani & Nielsen is a construction contractor with major operations in Thailand and Southeast Asia. Originally a Danish company, it is today a listed company majority owned by the GP Group.

The Company provides a comprehensive range of construction services, including the design and construction of a wide variety of building and civil engineering works, steel structures with a full range of electrical and mechanical engineering services, even in the Oil & Gas and Energy sectors and under the strategic vision and direction provided by its major shareholder, looks forward to building bigger landmarks and a bright future

Founding and early years

Christiani & Nielsen was established by Rudolf Christiani, a Danish civil engineer, and Aage Nielsen, a Captain in the Royal Danish Navy, in Copenhagen in 1904 to build bridges, marine works, and other reinforced concrete structures. It soon established a branch in Hamburg, and after World War I, extended its operations to the United Kingdom, South America, Australia and Africa. In 1965 the company built the Kish Lighthouse in Dublin Bay.

Thailand operations

Christiani & Nielsen (Siam) Ltd. was established on 28 February 1930. Over the years, the Company executed a number of landmark projects, including

• The Democracy Monument
• Klong Toey Port
• The Krungthep, Krungthon and Nonathburi bridges spanning Bangkok's Chao Phraya River
• Rajadamnern Boxing Stadium
• The Sukhothai Hotel in Bangkok
• The 13th Asian Games Sports Stadium
• All Season Place office complex
• SCG 100 Years New Office building, certified as LEED Platinum Class
• The Prince Mahidol Acoustic Hall with a 2000-seat capacity

The Thai company was the first construction company to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in 1991. In December 1992 it completed a reverse takeover of its publicly listed Danish parent company – the first such transaction in Thai business history.

It later expanded into Malaysia, Vietnam, and China, along with investment in engineering and property related businesses.

However, largely as a result of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the Company needed to undertake extensive restructuring by disposing of foreign subsidiaries and other investments, and thereafter decided to focus on its core construction business in Thailand.

The past few years have seen radical changes in the shareholding structure of the Company. To comply with new regulations of the Bank of Thailand, in 2008, long standing major shareholder Siam Commercial Bank PCL sold its stake to the Crown Property Bureau, giving them a majority share in the Company. Thereafter, in 2011, the Crown Property Bureau sold all its shares in the Company to the GP Group which thereby became the new major shareholder of the Company.

It is GP Group’s stated intention to remain a long term shareholder and plans to lead the Company to greater success and one of the first steps in this plan was to build new facilities to provide a solid platform for future development of the Company and accordingly the Company built its own new modern Office, a Plant & Steel Fabrication Yard and a Training Center for staff and workers.

Thailand's New Office

For the new Office, the Company purchased land at Bangna and has built a 7 storey building which can accommodate up to 750 staff. The building is disable friendly with modern facilities including a cafeteria, lounge, gym and yoga room with kids rooms all of which create a pleasant working environment for all of the Company’s staff.

In 2013, the old plant and steel fabrication yard moved to its newly purchased premises at Sriracha. The equipment yard houses some 10,000 items of construction machinery, tools, scaffolding and formwork. The steel fabrication yard has a production capacity of over 10,000 tones per year.

In 2013 again, a Training Centre was built on a 30 Rai plot of land at Nimit Mai in Bangkok, comprising 4 training buildings, 2 accommodation buildings and a canteen. It has the capacity to train up to 2,000 workers each year.