Building the Builders: A Digital Relaunch for Metz & Partner Baumanagement

Metz & Partner Baumanagement have spent four decades keeping Austria's largest infrastructure projects on time, on budget, and on spec: the Koralmbahn, the A26 Linzer Autobahn, Hauptbahnhof Wien, the Pottendorfer Linie. Their engineering credentials were never in question. Their website, however, no longer told that story.

They were already on Drupal, and that was never the problem. The platform had simply outgrown its structure. Content had accumulated faster than the architecture could carry it, and the design no longer reflected a company of this calibre. So this wasn't a migration. It was a relaunch: same trusted foundation, rebuilt from the structure up.

Key Objectives

1. Make the expertise legible
   Six core disciplines, from örtliche Bauaufsicht to Projektsteuerung, needed to be understandable at a glance rather than buried in prose.
2. Turn 1,200 projects into proof
   A structured, filterable reference architecture (Brückenbau, Wasserbau, Straßenbau, Flughafenbau and more) so visitors can find the projects that resemble their own.
3. Give the newsroom a purpose
   Metz & Partner have news worth telling: bridge slides, tunnel breakthroughs, awards. "Aktuelles" had to become an editorial engine, not an afterthought.
4. Recruit, not just represent
   With 120+ specialists and a growing team, careers needed a first-class place in the navigation.
5. Editorial independence
   Content, images, video and references maintained entirely in-house, with no agency in the loop for day-to-day publishing.

The Process

1. Structure before pixels
   We mapped the company as it actually works: disciplines, project categories, people, news. The information architecture followed the business, not the old sitemap.
2. A design that gets out of the way
   Large, real photography from the sites themselves. Restrained typography. Numbers that speak for themselves: 40 years, 120+ experts, 1,200+ completed projects.
3. A reference system, not a gallery
   Each project became a structured content entity, categorised and cross-linked, so the portfolio grows in value instead of getting harder to navigate.
4. Drupal, done properly
   A clean, component-based content model on a current Drupal core, with proper media handling for photo, video and time-lapse footage. The content came across without loss, and the editorial team gained tools they actually enjoy using.
5. Performance and accessibility
   Optimised media delivery, fast page loads and a responsive layout that works as well on a construction site tablet as it does on a desk.

Results

• A digital presence that matches the calibre of the projects behind it.
• A living reference database that turns four decades of infrastructure work into an argument for the next contract.
• An editorial team that publishes independently, so news, awards and project milestones go live the day they happen.
• A career section that presents Metz & Partner as an employer, not just a contractor.
• A maintainable Drupal platform built to carry the next decade of projects.

Metz & Partner keep other people's projects on track. This one was ours to keep on track, and the result is a platform that does exactly what they do: plan precisely, control carefully, deliver reliably.