For 20 years BESCO Berliner Steincontor GmbH lives the idea to add a piece of nature to the urban everyday life of the people

In March 2003, Frank Dickmann and Ulrich Klösser founded BESCO Berliner Steincontor GmbH. They recognized the increased demand for natural stone and pursued the business idea of utilizing the potential of worldwide deposits. While sufficient natural stone is available regionally, some of it is not accessible due to infrastructure, geology or topography, or is not suitable for some purposes due to its composition. Moreover, stone from other countries adds to the incredible variety of colors of the raw material.

In the course of the company’s history, almost 2,900 projects have already been supplied with natural stone. Whether pedestrian zones, city and market squares, parks and green areas, facades and interior floors or as individual design elements – today belgrano® granite, diorite, basalt, porphyry, gabbro and co. adorn numerous places in cities and towns. “It is always a great pleasure to travel the world and come across so many successfully realized projects,” Frank Dickmann, Managing Director of BESCO Berliner Steincontor GmbH, tells us today with pride in his eyes. ” With each project you connect a history, the respective landscape architect, the selected stones, different execution steps and the people, who accomplished collectively true master achievements.”

Of course, some projects stand out in particular. The Schmachter-See-Promenade in Binz on the island of Rügen and the Marstallplatz in Munich could already be realized in the year of foundation and belong to the first projects of the German natural stone importer. The market square in Halle – where approx. 20,000 square meters of basanite stone were installed – and the pedestrian zone in Wiesbaden also mark milestones in the company’s history. Other projects such as Mercedes Square and the new Potsdamer Platz Arcades, which recently opened their doors, make one’s Berlin heart beat faster. Also not to be missed is the Schwabinger Tor project in Munich: Here, a painting by Paul Klee was recreated with the shape, size and coloring of belgrano® stone – proof of the sheer endless possibilities that natural stone offers.

The painting “Main and secondary routes” by Paul Klee was recreated with belgrano® natural stone when planning the Schwabinger Tor project.

Despite all the euphoria, there have also been some challenges to overcome over the two decades, including prejudices about working conditions in Asia. “However, we directly took responsibility and made respect for human rights a condition for all business partners,” says Frank Dickmann. “Through voluntary cooperation with the non-profit organization WIN=WIN Fair Stone, our production partners are independently audited to ensure compliance with ILO labor standards and the exclusion of child labor.” Furthermore, a three-person on-site inspection team monitors the ILO conventions of all Asian belgrano® productions on a daily basis, while also checking on agreed product quality and tolerances.

In addition, BESCO has taken another step and has decided on its own responsibility to offset CO2 emissions occurring on transport routes in cooperation with myClimate, thus putting the CO2 balance of natural stone from other countries on an equal footing with that of German stone. Corona-related effects and the development of sea freight prices have also not passed the natural stone supplier without leaving a trace. “The close cooperation with our business partners, the trust that has been built up and the transparency of our approach that has always prevailed have proven to be effective in achieving our goals and have helped us to continue to offer a highly competitive product,” explains CEO Frank Dickmann. “We are able to offer planners not only an immense variety of natural stone, but also the security that no longer seems to be a given everywhere these days.”

Also in the future BESCO Berliner Steincontor GmbH wants to approach its customers and partners with consistency and the known high quality, with accumulated expertise and meticulous working methods. General Manager Frank Dickmann looks forward with confidence to the following chapters of the company’s history: “My best personal BESCO moment still lies ahead. When I retire one day, I am more than confident that the following, younger generation of management will continue the skills responsibly and strategically and thus continue to write BESCO’s success story.”