Design & Build a la Takenaka

A large number of Japan’s most prominent landmarks and an impressive number of high-rise buildings both in Japan and around the world have been created by Takenaka Corporation. It is the biggest Design & Build general construction company in Japan providing services in architecture, engineering, and construction. Takenaka has a long and storied history that is rich in tradition and spans more than 400 years. It is still a family-owned business managed by the 17th generation descendant of the founder who began the business in 1610.

Takenaka has constructed some of the most important buildings in Japan, including Tokyo Tower, which is a radio, telecommunication and observation tower built in the capital’s Minato Ward. With a height of 333 meters, it is one of the tallest steel structures in the world and it was the iconic & representative building of 2020 Olympic Games. For safety reasons, it is painted white and orange. In 1953, television broadcasting began in Japan, and the Kanto region needed a tower that would provide frequency transmissions. With great care having been taken in planning earthquake resistance as much as possible, Takenaka Corporation began work in 1957 with 400 workers a day committed to the edifice, which was built of iron and scrap metal from discarded tanks. Since opening in December 1958, Tokyo Tower has received more than 150 million visitors and become an iconic landmark, particularly at night.

Around the world
Since 2009, Takenaka has been a member of CTBUH (The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat: the world's leading resource for professionals focused on the inception, design, construction, and operation of tall buildings and future cities). The company has built more than 40 buildings higher than 150 meters, including Abeno Harukas (300m high), which is Japan’s tallest building. This skyscraper received the Award of Excellence in 2014. In addition to architecture in Japan, Takenaka has constructed first-rate buildings all around the world. Among these, Capita Green in Singapore won the "Best Tall Building Asia & Australasia" title in 2015.

Design & Build
The basis for Takenaka’s success is the full Design & Build (D&B) service, which enables the company’s clients to realize their projects as fast as possible, with the most optimal construction cost and outstanding Japanese quality. The turnover and the number of professionals are constantly increasing at Takenaka year by year.
It is safe to say that in the early 2010s in Hungary, the majority of clients had not even considered the possibility of using a complex D&B contractor service, which is basically due to the long-established internal decision-making processes of companies.
Due to economic developments in the world, the time available for the realization of investments has been radically reduced, and the aim has been to optimize construction costs to the limit while fully meeting quality requirements.
The solution to these new challenges is Takenaka's worldwide experience in D&B services, which goes back over hundreds of years. Subsequent to the Client's needs assessment, the following complete, one-stop design and engineering services are included: finding the suitable property, property evaluation, feasibility study, basic design, building permit and permission process, execution design, complete building construction works, as-build design and occupancy permit process. After these tasks, the Client, after having formulated his requirements, has to attend the handing over of the keys of the building with the occupancy permit. Between these two project milestones, the sole responsible for the Client's project is TAKENAKA EUROPE GmbH.
As a result of the success of Takenaka’s full service and its long-term strategy over the past 28 years, in addition to Japanese firms, the company now has countless clients from Germany, the United States, France and South Korea that confirm the results and the fact of Japanese precision and reliability.
One of the best examples of customer satisfaction is the reference certificate Takenaka received from one of its American clients, that, based on its experience in Hungary, TAKENAKA was the only one to complete the project on time, to the expected quality and within the contracted construction cost, without the cost of the any additional work.

Takenaka Design & Build services in practice

One of the best examples of the success of TAKENAKA D&B general construction service is the Electrolyte Liquid Factory project of SOULBRAIN HU Kft. in the Tatabánya Industrial Park, west of Budapest (see pictured).
Over the past years numerous component supply factories, for the production of electrically powered vehicles, have appeared in Hungary. Additionally, the existing large Hungarian manufacturers of electric vehicles are also considering a complete product change. Thanks to the product development of the major car manufacturers, numerous suppliers have arrived in Hungary. One of the most important supplier segments in this country is the battery industry.
The emergence of battery factories in Hungary coincided with the idea of SOULBRAIN's South-Korean headquarters to set up a factory in Hungary. Among their objectives was the complex realization of their project within the planned timeframe and at the most optimal cost.
During the realization of the factory of 4,330 square meters, TAKENAKA D&B's services included the search for the land, the management of the building permit process with the design of all necessary documentation, the design of the execution drawings, the complete construction work of the factory, the provision of the execution drawings and documentation design of the as-build drawings and the preparation of the handover document as well as the management of the occupancy permit process.

In numbers

The European HQ of Takenaka EU was founded in 1973 in Düsseldorf, Germany, and is currently represented in 13 different European countries.
Takenaka EU's total number of industrial buildings in Europe exceeds 1,400, covering more than 11 million square meters.
The Hungarian subsidiary of Takenaka Europe GmbH was founded in 1994 in Budapest.
Takenaka Europe GmbH Hungary Branch has realized more than a hundred projects in Hungary since its establishment, with a total area of more than one million square meters, which is 10% of the total area of the projects realized by Takenaka EU.
During its 28 years of operation in Hungary, TAKENAKA has become a premium service provider for the 32 Japanese companies that have established subsidiaries/factories in this country.