The design of the rooms is simple, featuring lots of straight lines and the DEKRA colours green and white throughout, but the bright colours and attention to detail make them look warm and welcoming. Clear lines and a practical layout create an aesthetic that is underpinned by the range of ASSMANN office furniture. For example, 24 workstations were furnished with modern and sleekly designed Rondana desks that can be used in a variety of different ways thanks to their range of function and configuration options. Allvia cabinets and Pontis mobile pedestals complete the attractive and costeffective combination of work and storage space. Soundproof partition walls from the Viteco range enable employees in multi-occupancy offices to concentrate on their work in peace. Sleek white Solos tables make the spacious conference rooms welcoming spaces for meetings with business clients or between staff. Anyone wanting to have a coffee or a snack between or during meetings can make good use of the Pontis and Solos bistro tables in the kitchen area. The furnishing concept, which blends functionality neatly with aesthetics, strongly adheres to the DEKRA corporate identity guidelines for the design’s technical specifications and colour scheme. Martin Ruß, Managing Director of DEKRA Austria Automotive GmbH and one of the project managers for the move, sees the eye-catching interior design as a success of the longterm collaboration between the two partners: “The fact that ASSMANN has experience of furnishing DEKRA offices in other locations was really beneficial to this project,” he says. “It not only saved a great deal of time, it also meant processes could run smoothly.”

DEKRA and ASSMANN have been developing a great working relationship for years and have already successfully completed a few projects together. The Austrian branch of the organisation runs several companies within Vienna and the metropolitan area, which were to be brought together under one roof. “We had the idea to join forces in one location for a while to make it easier to work together and to boost team spirit,” explains Martin Ruß. “However, each business line has different demands that need to be taken into account when choosing the premises, such as good public transport connections or technical requirements. We were also looking for offices that met our demands without requiring major renovation works,” he says, describing the initial stage of the project. Searching for the right premises took a long time, but they appeared to have found something that ticked all the boxes at the start of 2019. A building matching their requirements was found. They soon came to an agreement with the landlord and started making firm plans. Office planer Bruno Horak from Concept Place 16 e.U. was commissioned to head up the project, while the DEKRA central purchasing department in Stuttgart was instructed to search for a suitable partner to furnish the offices. German colleagues suggested ASSMANN as they’d had good experiences working with the company before. It was a recommendation that Martin Ruß still refers to as “a blessing”. At first everything was running like clockwork, with the planer’s first detailed concept ready by mid-February, but then DEKRA received some bad news in the middle of March: The landlord informed them at short notice that he had decided not to grant them the new lease agreement. It was a major blow to the project team as the preparations for the move, which was scheduled for 1 July, were already in full swing. The team’s chosen partners were also well underway with their own preparations. But then they were saved by pure chance: Employees discovered another empty office space less than 100 metres away that matched their requirements even more closely. They managed to get straight down to business within four weeks, especially as templates and planning stages only needed minimal adjustment.

The furniture was ordered from ASSMANN at the beginning of May, and just a few weeks later it was on DEKRA’s doorstep. The perfect execution of the whole process impressed the employees: “ASSMANN was already a cut above the rest when it came to quality and price,” says Martin Ruß. “But what really made an impression on us and won us over was the company’s flexibility and solution-oriented approach. Despite having such a short time frame, ASSMANN never faltered in their service quality and appreciation for client needs, no matter how pressed for time we were,” he praises. The offices had to be up and running with all the furnishings fitted by 30 June. The fact that the new offices were located on the sixth floor did not make the time pressure any easier. But this challenge was overcome too thanks to a great deal of commitment, great planning and not least a goods lift in the building. The new of fice opened right on schedule on 1 July 2019. Today, the clients and Martin Ruß in particular are still extremely happy with the results: “Even though there are still one or two small things that we need to adjust, I’m absolutely thrilled with the outcome,” he says. “And I’m not the only one: The fact that our landlord keeps asking us if we can let prospective but unconvinced tenants see the offices as a kind of showroom just goes to show that we must have done something right with this project.” He says he would always be happy to work with ASSMANN again. The new partner impressed him with its products and prices as well as its professional approach.