Berest

What Berest does

BEREST is a French consulting engineering firm (SAS) headquartered in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, founded in 1959 through the merger of the Othon SAUER and Paul SCHMITT cabinets. The company is wholly employee-owned and organized as a group comprising the parent BEREST SAS alongside three regional subsidiaries (BEREST RHIN RHÔNE SARL, BEREST LORRAINE SARL, BEREST BOURGOGNE SARL) and a specialized landscape architecture subsidiary, PARENTHESE, created in 2015. Across its eight offices in eastern France, BEREST delivers multidisciplinary engineering services in sanitation, drinking water, urban planning, civil engineering studies, road infrastructure, sports facilities, environmental management, and utility networks. The firm is exclusively oriented toward the French public sector, providing project studies, design, and project owner assistance (AMO) to municipalities, intercommunalities, public institutions, and public works departments.

The company's technical backbone is a suite of established hydraulic and civil engineering software — Hystem Extran, Kosim, ZOMAYET, EPANET, MIKE URBAN, ArcGIS, QGIS, AutoCAD Map, Covadis/Mensura, and the Autodesk AEC suite (Revit, InfraWorks) deployed across 60 workstations. BEREST operates under a QSE-certified management system (ISO 9001 since 1997, expanded to ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 in 2013) and is institutionally embedded in the French engineering profession through memberships in CINOV, OPQIBI, ASTEE (since 1971), and HYDREOS. The firm traces its most notable innovation to a 2020 AMO mandate that introduced the Moving Bed (Kaldnes) wastewater treatment process to France for the Saint-Louis Agglomération.

BEREST monetizes exclusively through professional services engagements with public clients, structured as either direct consultations or competitive public tenders (appels d'offres), with project-based pricing and multi-year contracts. In 2023 the firm reported €7.3 million in revenue on 1,170 contracts across approximately 90 employees, with a documented reference portfolio spanning 730 sanitation missions, 1,100 urban planning missions, 700 road engineering missions, and significant track records in drinking water, environmental studies, and sports facilities. The company is led by President Yann Aselmeyer, who has held leadership positions at CINOV and OPQIBI, and the management is being progressively broadened through a Comité Directeur established in 2018.

Name

Berest

Legal name

Berest SAS

Website

https://berest.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1959

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

BEREST is a French employee-owned engineering consulting group founded in 1959, specializing in water, sanitation, road, urban planning, and environmental infrastructure. It serves municipalities, intercommunalities, and public institutions across Grand-Est and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté through eight regional offices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civil Engineering Consulting Services

NAICS

Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services (5413), Engineering Services (54133), Environmental Consulting Services (54162), Landscape Architectural Services (54132)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental Compliance & Permitting (BPAHAJAA)

Keywords

• Civil engineering consulting
• Water infrastructure engineering
• Wastewater treatment design
• Urban planning services
• Public works engineering

Headquarters

HQ city

Illkirch-graffenstaden

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Engineering Consulting Services: Revenue generated through engineering consulting and project management services for public infrastructure projects including water systems, sanitation, roads, and urban development. Services are delivered through public procurement contracts and direct client engagements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

BEREST is a French employee-owned engineering consulting firm specializing in public infrastructure and environmental engineering. The firm delivers engineering studies, project management, and consulting across sanitation/wastewater, drinking water supply, urban planning, road infrastructure, sports facilities, environmental engineering, and multi-utility networks. Services are sold primarily to public sector clients (municipalities, intercommunalities, public institutions) through public procurement and direct engagement via 8 regional offices in eastern France.

Product overview

BEREST is a group of engineering companies specializing in infrastructure and the environment, founded in 1959 and employee-owned. The group provides engineering consulting services through eight core expertise areas: Assainissement (sanitation/wastewater treatment), Alimentation en eau potable (drinking water supply), Urbanisme et paysage (urban planning and landscape), Études (engineering studies and modeling), Voirie (roads and infrastructure), Sport (sports facilities), Environnement (environmental engineering), and Réseaux divers (utility networks including electricity, gas, telephone). The group is organized under parent company BEREST SAS (headquarters in Illkirch) with three regional subsidiaries: BEREST RHIN RHÔNE SARL (Colmar, Besançon), BEREST LORRAINE SARL (Nancy, Phalsbourg, Yutz, Châlons-en-Champagne), and BEREST BOURGOGNE SARL (Dijon). A specialized subsidiary called PARENTHESE handles urban planning and landscape architecture. The group operates across Grand-Est and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regions with 90 employees and generated €7.3 million in revenue in 2023.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PARENTHESE: Urbanisme & paysage subsidiary specializing in landscape architecture

Products and services

• Sanitation Engineering (Assainissement) Engineering consulting for sanitation networks and wastewater treatment, including networks and large collectors, treatment plants, retention basins, and pumping stations. Serves French municipalities, intercommunalities, and water/wastewater authorities.
• Drinking Water Supply (Alimentation en eau potable)
• Urban Planning and Landscape (Urbanisme et paysage) Urban planning and landscape design services including lotissements (residential subdivisions), ZAC and activity parks, parks and fountains, campings and leisure areas. Includes 3D visualizations and realistic renderings for public presentations.
• Engineering Studies (Études) Diagnostic and modeling studies including wastewater treatment plant diagnostics, drinking water network modeling, hydraulic studies, urban planning and environment studies, and sanitation modeling.
• Roads and Infrastructure (Voirie) Road engineering services including intersections, urban roads, places and forecourts, bicycle paths, parking areas, and public lighting.
• Sports Facilities (Sport) Sports facility engineering including sports platforms, football fields (natural or synthetic turf), tennis courts, playgrounds, and leisure areas.
• Environmental Engineering (Environnement) Environmental engineering services including déchèteries (waste centers), water law compliance, individual retention, purification schemes, and river studies.
• Utility Networks (Réseaux divers) Engineering for various utility networks including electricity (BT and HTA), public lighting, gas, telephone (electronic communications civil engineering), and underground network burial.
• PARENTHESE - Landscape Architecture Subsidiary Urban planning and landscape subsidiary created in December 2015 to federate the skills of urban planners and landscape architects from BEREST's agencies (Colmar, Illkirch, Phalsbourg). Operates as a separate entity under its own brand (parenthese-paysage.fr).
• Moving Bed Purification Process (Innovation) Innovative wastewater treatment process using fluidized bed bacterial filters (Moving Bed / Kaldnes process). AMO (project owner assistance) mission delivered to French public sector clients for compact treatment solutions when land constraints prevent conventional activated sludge.

Quantifiable outcome

• 730 sanitation missions completed over 10 years with 80 treatment plant projects covering 2.2 million EH and 270 million EUR in construction works
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CINOVcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional engineering association representing BEREST's branch of activity through SYNTEC Ingénierie. President Yann Aselmeyer held multiple leadership positions including President of CINOV Infrastructures et Environnement, President of OPQIBI, President of CINOV Alsace-Lorraine, Vice President of national CINOV federation, and President of IPTIC (CINOV training subsidiary).
• OPQIBIcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional qualification organization for engineering consultancies. President Yann Aselmeyer served as President of OPQIBI, demonstrating BEREST's leadership role in the professional qualification system.
• ASTEEcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerScientific and Technical Association for Water and Environment. Member since 1971, representing long-term commitment to water sector expertise and professional development.
• HYDREOScoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWater sector cluster of the Grand-Est region, positioning BEREST within the regional water industry ecosystem and facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration.
• BIM-Energie (Energivie cluster)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBIM-Energy club established by Energivie cluster, enabling BEREST to participate in building information modeling and energy efficiency initiatives.
• IUT de génie-civil d'IllkirchminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCivil engineering institute where BEREST staff serve as lecturers, creating academic-industry collaboration and talent pipeline.
• ENGEESminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational School of Water and Environmental Engineering where BEREST staff serve as lecturers, supporting professional education and recruitment.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• SCE: French water, environment, and urban engineering consultancy (part of the Setec group) headquartered in Nantes. Highly comparable to Berest in core water/sanitation/environment expertise and in serving French municipalities and intercommunalities through public tenders.
• Setec: French multidisciplinary engineering group covering infrastructure, water, environment, and urban development. Comparable to Berest in serving French local authorities with similar water, sanitation, and urban planning capabilities, though at larger scale and broader geographic reach.
• Altereo: French engineering consultancy specializing in water, sanitation, and environmental infrastructure for public-sector clients. Closely comparable to Berest in service portfolio (water networks, wastewater, environmental studies) and mid-sized French public-sector focus.
• SAFEGE (SUEZ Consulting): French water and environmental engineering consultancy now operating under SUEZ Consulting, specializing in hydraulic networks, sanitation, and water infrastructure. Highly comparable to Berest in water/sanitation engineering for French public authorities.
• Egis: French-headquartered engineering group with strong water, environment, urban, and transportation infrastructure consulting practices serving French public authorities. Directly comparable to Berest in service mix (water, sanitation, urban planning, environment) and public-sector customer base, but at significantly larger scale.
• Artelia: French engineering consulting firm offering water, environment, urban development, and infrastructure design services to public and private clients. Closely comparable to Berest in core service offerings (sanitation, drinking water, urban planning) and reliance on French public procurement.

Broad incumbents

• Tractebel (Engie): Large Belgian-French engineering consultancy owned by Engie with broad infrastructure, water, and environment capabilities. Overlaps with Berest in public-sector water and infrastructure engineering but operates as part of a much larger, multi-continent portfolio.
• SUEZ: Global water and waste management group with French consulting operations. Comparable to Berest in water/sanitation engineering for public authorities, but with substantially larger scale and broader service portfolio including operations.
• VINCI Construction: Major French construction and infrastructure group with engineering and public works capabilities that intersect with Berest's VRD, road, and urban infrastructure practices. Operates as a broad incumbent with significantly larger project capacity than a mid-sized regional consultancy.
• Veolia: Global water and environmental services major with engineering consulting arms serving French municipalities. Overlaps with Berest's water/sanitation expertise but operates at vastly larger scale and as a vertically integrated operator plus consultant.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/berest-illkirch

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Berest