Thursday, 30 October 2025
From crisis-era beginnings to a 100-plus-strong multidisciplinary team, OPTIM Project Management has evolved into one of Southeast Europe’s most respected independent consultancies. Managing Director David Evans speaks with CIJ EUROPE about early-stage risk, sustainable design, digital adoption, and the lessons learned from delivering complex projects across Romania and the wider SEE region.
OPTIM Project Management was founded in 2009, at the height of the global financial crisis. Evans had been leading the construction of the now-iconic Euro Tower on Bucharest’s Barbu Văcărescu Boulevard when the project’s original management withdrew. “I did a deal, kept the team together, and that’s how OPTIM was born,” he recalls. The company’s early portfolio revolved around retail schemes for NEPI and hypermarket operator Cora. A request from Cora in 2013 to handle both design and construction pushed OPTIM to establish its own architectural and MEP design arms. Today the Romanian office houses about 85 specialists spanning design, cost management, and project management, supported by associated operations in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia. Across the region, the firm has been involved in high-profile projects such as the Marriott hotel within Sofia’s I Tower, factories for Continental Automotive, and a major Epic Games campus in Novi Sad. In Croatia, OPTIM is currently completing a new Google head office, secured through repeat collaboration with the client’s Romanian division.
Managing Risk by Strengthening the Start
David identifies one consistent cause of cost and schedule overruns: poor front-end definition. “Too many projects are pushed forward on incomplete designs and underestimated permitting constraints. Once shaky assumptions get locked into contracts, every decision becomes reactive.” In the SEE market, the rush for early permitting to secure financing often forces design coordination to run in parallel—or start only after the building permit is issued. The result, he says, is predictable: rework, change orders, and cost drift. OPTIM’s approach is to slow down at the start, front-loading feasibility, utility checks, and stakeholder alignment before tender. “Strong beginnings are the best risk management. If you de-risk the start, you can move faster later,” David Evans insists. Studies show that more than 70 percent of project overruns originate from deficiencies in early planning rather than execution.
Many investors still view advisory services as optional, but David disagrees. “Project management isn’t an overhead—it’s a framework that secures performance and governance.” OPTIM translates technical foresight into measurable metrics such as cost-deviation reduction, fewer variation orders, and greater schedule certainty. “The question isn’t what does it cost to engage advisors, but what is the cost of not having them?” he says. Early engagement, he argues, routinely saves months and millions by identifying risks that might otherwise crystallize mid-construction.
Sustainability and Digitalisation Redefining Value
Sustainability has shifted from compliance to competitiveness. With nZEB standards now mandatory in Romania, even mid-range developments must integrate energy-efficient systems. “Among international developers, BREEAM, LEED, WELL, and strong digital connectivity are now baked into financing and leasing strategies,” says David. He points to OPTIM’s design for Hospice Casa Speranței in southern Bucharest, a palliative-care NGO facility that will use photovoltaics and ground-loop heating and cooling. “We’re targeting a 75 percent reduction in monthly utilities. For a non-profit relying on donations, that’s transformational.” Still, he notes that some local projects remain driven by short-term budgets. “Our job is to show that sustainability isn’t a cost but a value driver. A WELL-ready office leases faster and retains tenants longer; a BREEAM-certified logistics park gets better financing.”
Digital tools are also changing how OPTIM delivers. The company designs to BIM Level 300–400, uses AI-assisted concept modelling, and manages construction through cloud-based platforms such as DALUX, enabling real-time control of quality, cost, and programme. “Every drawing revision, RFI, and material change sits in one place. By completion we can generate accurate as-builts automatically,” says David. The main bottleneck now, he believes, is not technology but integration. “Information still lives in silos between design, construction, and operations. Many owners don’t yet use BIM data for maintenance or life-cycle management. Larger institutional clients do—but the rest of the market is catching up.”
OPTIM’s hotel portfolio continues to expand, yet David highlights: “Developers often underestimate what it costs to meet a brand’s technical and operational standards. Operators like Marriott or IHG guide you, but they don’t fund you.” His solution is early joint workshops with both operator and developer. “For a small fee, we test-fit the land, assess key counts, lay out facilities, and give a concept-level budget. It avoids sticker shock later.” Increasingly, banks require LEED or BREEAM certification as a loan condition—another push toward higher-quality delivery.
Climate volatility is now influencing engineering decisions. “Codes tell you to design for certain rainfall intensities, but storms now exceed them. We’ve seen three months of rain in four hours,” says David. Over-designing doubles cost; under-designing risks flooding. “It’s a constant balance between resilience and affordability.” Rising temperatures also drive up cooling loads, reinforcing the importance of envelope and systems design.
Adapting to a Changing Market
Working across four countries means navigating four sets of bureaucracy. “The laws aren’t the issue—it’s how they’re interpreted,” David explains. “A permit can take three months in one place and nine in another.” OPTIM mitigates this through flexible scheduling, dependency mapping, and a standardised tender and evaluation framework. Labour shortages, he adds, are a regional reality. “Workers from Asia often stay six months then move on to Western Europe. We pre-qualify contractors on labour strength and build conservative schedules.”
Looking ahead, OPTIM is expanding carefully into select public-works projects such as municipal offices and fire stations, while avoiding heavy infrastructure. The firm also performs general contracting on smaller assignments and continues to strengthen its in-house design and construction-management capabilities. “We’re not chasing airports or megahospitals,” David says. “Our strength lies in integrated design and delivery across Southeast Europe—staying close to clients, getting in early, and finishing with certainty.”
After sixteen years and hundreds of projects, David Evans’s philosophy remains straightforward: “If we’re in the room at the start—testing assumptions, aligning stakeholders, setting a data-driven plan—projects finish faster, cleaner, and with fewer surprises.” In an industry still defined by volatility, OPTIM Project Management’s steady focus on clarity, sustainability, and disciplined execution continues to make it one of the most reliable names in SEE construction management.
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