Christian was born in Germany. He studied law and architecture qualifying as a Diplom Engineer (Dipl.-Ing.) for Architecture. He also holds a degree in ecological design.

 

After some years of working in Germany he came to the United Kingdom in 1987. Christian worked for a number of well-known British architects on a wide range of projects including major hospitals and laboratories, offices and business parks, print works and other industrial buildings. In 1993 he joined Chapman Taylor and set up their offices in Germany as a Managing Director.

During this time he started work on major projects in the Baltic States. Based on this experience in these former USSR countries, Christian started to work in Russia in 2001. He was the driving force behind the impressive portfolio of projects CT acquired in the region. He managed to establish CT as a fully Russian registered company of architects.

 

As a director of Chapman Taylor London he was responsible for CIS and the Baltic’s. During this time he worked mainly on master planning, retail, leisure and mixed use projects ranging from 10.000 m² to many hundreds of hectares.

 

Christian developed wide ranging experience in managing projects from the early stages of site selection, presentations to and negotiations with authorities, planning approvals right through to concept development and overseeing the full technical design of shopping and leisure centres.

He has a special interest and experience in the efficient management of the dynamics of the entire development process of retail, leisure and mixed use projects.

 

In June 2007 Christian was the only speaker at the Adam Smith Conference in Moscow to talk about recession to an audience in disbelieve. He even got the timing right - after the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He is not an expert on the causes, but common sense coined the phrases:"When the party is over, everyone wants to know how much is really in the till." and "This is a prediction I prefer to be wrong about."

 

Since the start of the Financial Crisis Christian has moved sds-i towards IT & Web based projects, as well as sustainability, renewable energies, green issues and business planning. Christian personally and sds-i have also taken up strategic investments in companies operating in these areas.

 

Christian has been teaching various seminars in architectural schools in Germany and Britain and has participated as a speaker in a number of international conferences on property development, hotels, retail and leisure centres.

He is also a co-author of the first text book in Russian language "Development of Shopping Centres".