Alpine, the Austrian subsidiary of FCC Construcción, will concentrate on its domestic markets (Austria, Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, primarily) in a commercial offensive to gain market share in these Central and Eastern European countries, according to the new Managing Director, Johannes Dotter.

Outside of these "natural" markets, Alpine's new Director cited two specific examples in Eastern Asia. First, Singapore, a market where the Central European company already has a firm footing thanks to the construction of various underground lines and Hong Kong where the company has set up an office to explore the business possibilities in the Chinese market.

The new Managing Director of Alpine noted that one of its greatest strengths can be found in the construction of sustainable infrastructures and facilities for athletic and multitudinous events, such as the Glass Palace in Baku, Azerbaijan, the venue for this year's Eurovision Festival.

Besides focusing on its domestic markets and infrastructure, some of the goals set by Dotter for Alpine over the next few years include developing the energy division, achieving a leaner and more efficient business structure and improving margins.

During a press conference held in Gdansk, the Managing Director of Alpine, Johannes Dotter, disclosed that this year, to date, the Central European country has been awarded almost 1,000,000,000 euros in new contracts.

Some of the most notable of these include a €170 million contract for the construction of a motorway in Oslo (Norway), and a €175 million contract for the construction of 30 kilometres of railway in Timisoara (Romania) in a joint venture with Azvi and Straca.

As some of the most emblematic projects currently underway at Alpine, Dotter cited the St. Gotthard Tunnel (Switzerland) which, at 57 kilometres, will be the world's longest; the work on the Whitechapel and Liverpool stations for the London Crossrail and the Singapore underground, among others.

Leader in football stadium construction

Even before the outcome of the 2012 UEFA Euro championship - currently taking place in Poland and Ukraine since 7 June - is known, a champion has already been declared in this European tournament: Alpine. The Central and Eastern European subsidiary of the Citizens' Services Group built three of the stadiums where the matches will be played.

They include the Warsaw National Stadium where the inaugural match between Poland and Greece will be played, the PGA Arena in Gdansk, where the first round of the Spanish team's matches will be played, and the Poznan municipal stadium which will be the venue of the match between Italy and Croatia, Spain's rival in the first round. Along with these three facilities, Alpine also remodelled the Henryk Reyman Stadium in Krakow. This is a stadium which the UEFA is keeping as a "reserve".

The construction and remodelling of these facilities required an investment of more than 600 million euros over a three-year period. More than 3,000 people worked on the different phases of these four projects.

The presence of FCC and Alpine in the UEFA Euro 2012 reinforces the leadership of the Citizens' Services Group in the construction and renovation of football stadiums and athletic facilities. Some of the most emblematic facilities include Allianz Arena (Bayern Stadium in Munich) which was the venue of the inaugural match of the World Football Championship in Germany in 2006 and more recently the final match of the Champions League between the local team and Chelsea.

Notable in the international arena is the construction of stadiums in Innsbruck, Salzburg and Klagenfurt in Austria for the European Football Championship held in August 2008.

Some of the most emblematic stadiums built by FCC in Spain include Cornellá-El Prat for R.C.D. Español, chosen in 2010 as the best sports facility of the year, the Valdebebas Sports Complex for Real Madrid, the Son Moix for Real Mallorca and the Ramón de Carranza in Cádiz. The company also remodelled the Santiago Bernabeu (Real Madrid), the Camp Nou (F.C. Barcelona) and the Vicente Calderón (Atlético de Madrid).