History of the ALHO Group
From manufacturer of construction trailers to specialist for container construction to general contractor for modular construction: the ALHO Group is one of the pioneers of serial construction. What politicians, interest groups in the construction industry, architects and clients propagate as the future of construction has been a reality at ALHO for over 55 years.
The name ALHO stands for Albert Holschbach - the founder of our group of companies. As a commercial apprentice in the leading woodworking company of the time, Morsbach, he learnt the mechanisms and products of the industry from the ground up. When he was offered a small cartwright's workshop for sale in 1967, he took the plunge and in August 1967 signed the notarised purchase agreement for the cartwright's workshop, which housed an assembly workshop for the manufacture of construction trailers with a locksmith's shop.
This was the birth of today's ALHO group of companies, founded under the name "Albert Holschbach, Holz- und Fahrzeugbau, Morsbach/Hammer".
1967
Foundation of the family business ALHO
1969
New production hall covering around 2000 square metres
1971
Production of standardised room containers starts
1980
The birth of the FAGSI brand
1990
Start of production of modular buildings
2010
Own FAGSI company headquarters in Morsbach-Lichtenberg
2025
New ProContain production hall in Lichtenberg
Construction trailer: Serially manufactured with steel instead of wood
The production of wooden barracks, construction, office, sleeping and toilet trailers for the construction industry began. The production programme quickly established itself on the market. The small cartwright's workshop was soon bursting at the seams and it soon became necessary to expand. In 1969, a new production hall was built specifically for vehicle construction on an area of around 2,000 square metres. The single-axle and two-axle construction vehicles were particularly popular with customers: Their outer panelling, made of galvanised profiled sheet metal on a tubular steel frame, proved to be particularly robust. The outer walls - prefabricated in templates - were assembled as if on an assembly line.
Thanks to a 100 metre long and 2.4 metre wide channel, which was embedded in the floor of the newly built hall, assembly took place at ground level. All the materials required for the interior fittings were ready to hand as cut-to-size pieces next to the channel and in the appropriate installation sequence. The new production concept, with which ALHO was taking its first steps in serial construction at the time, minimised production time enormously.
Last but not least, the customer saved time on the construction site: construction trailers could adapt much better to changes on the construction site than the cumbersome barracks, which had to be laboriously assembled and dismantled. This mobility gave the builders significantly more flexibility. Word of the advantages of the new robust construction site accommodation soon spread and demand increased rapidly.
ALHO became the first manufacturer of construction site accommodation with complete furnishings such as chairs, tables, cupboards, beds and bed linen. This was a service for the customer, who could use the construction trailer immediately upon delivery without delay - a principle that is still valid today both in the turnkey modular construction of ALHO Systembau and in container hire at FAGSI.
Container system: Innovation for the construction site
In 1971, ALHO began producing standardised room containers. With this container system for the construction site, consisting of a standardised type range, ALHO sets standards within the industry. Today, the containers are still produced almost unchanged under the ProContain brand and sold in the construction industry. Sound and heat insulation are becoming more important, as are the requirements for interior fittings and comfort. With its product, ALHO proves that standardised mobile space units for temporary use and individual requirements are not mutually exclusive. Here, too, success is not long in coming.
At the beginning of the 1980s, mobile homes continue to replace caravans in the product range. Thanks to their combinability and the possibility of stacking several storeys high, construction site containers offer a number of advantages. Classic single construction site containers or up to three-storey container combinations are still part of the ALHO Group's production programme 50 years later.
As the demand for containers increased, so did the requests for rental solutions. This was the birth of the FAGSI brand - from 1980 as FAGSI Vertriebs- und Vermietungs-GmbH an independent company of the ALHO Group, since 2010 with its own company headquarters in Morsbach-Lichtenberg.
Modular buildings: sustainable and durable
Over time, stationary solutions designed for permanent use based on system units, today's modular construction, are increasingly expanding the production programme. While standardised room units are produced in container construction, the dimensions of the three-dimensional room modules can vary in width, length and height. This feature is perfect for adapting the modules to the requirements of the building layout.
What's more, in complex modular buildings with up to six storeys, nothing on the outside is reminiscent of the building structure assembled from modules behind it thanks to the front façade.
The ALHO brand is synonymous with modern, sophisticated modular buildings within the Group. Today, the quality and durability of modular construction are at least on a par with conventional construction methods. As durable as "brick on brick", "module on module" is much faster and more flexible. Modular buildings are therefore a more sustainable and clever alternative to conventionally constructed buildings.