Interview Hannah Gutjahr

Hi! I'm Hannah Gutjahr and I've been working at Count & Cooper for two months. I'm having a great time here! Before I started working in construction and infrastructure, I worked in development cooperation. This choice arose from my broad social interest, which I had developed further during my studies in International Relations and Conflict Studies.

During the corona crisis, however, I started looking around more broadly to look for a new step. Development cooperation is a very interesting sector, but it often revolves around projects that are far away and where a concrete result is difficult to see. Visual concrete results is therefore what attracted me to consulting within the construction industry. That is why in September 2021 I made the step to environmental management at an engineering firm. But even more I wanted to work on projects in the implementation, and when Count & Cooper came along, this turned out to be a very good match.

I am currently working on the VeenIX A9 project, where I do permit management, among other things. Many permits will have to be applied for in the near future. There is therefore a major challenge in collecting all the information in time and interacting with different parties. As part of the project, we deal with various licensing authorities, so you have to be agile and evaluate which regulations apply in each situation. Because of these challenges I grow more and more in environmental management; something I really like!

I was trained in a very interdisciplinary way: my studies were about politics, history, economics and culture. That interdisciplinarity and broad interest are still reflected in my work. From my study background I looked at international geopolitics, but within my work I deal with dynamics at the local level. That may be a change in scope, but the dynamics remain the same. I approach every problem that arises from all kinds of different perspectives.

As an environmental manager, it is also important to be able to deal well with conflicts. How do you bring different parties together? As an environmental manager, you have a dual role: externally you represent the project, and internally you represent the environment.

Count & Cooper is a really young and dynamic company. We also do a lot with personal development. It is therefore a very energetic and eager to learn club that really wants to ensure that change. We also use a new way of working in construction and apply all kinds of new technologies in our working method - that makes us progressive.

I still want to climb the Kilimanjaro and especially continue to grow in my role as Environmental Manager within Count & Cooper!

Text: Hannah Gutjahr | Images: Count & Cooper | Date: 23-03-2023