Ramboll opens new office in Seoul, South Korea, to support clients in driving sustainable change

With the office in Seoul, Ramboll’s regional footprint in Asia Pacific has expanded to cover 7 countries and regions, including South Korea, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Japan, China, and Hong Kong. This is part of Ramboll’s growth strategy, which aims to double the size of our Asia Pacific operations by 2025.

The growth of Ramboll’s business in South Korea will be driven by a local team with support from a network of regional and global experts in the health sciences, offshore wind development and urban resilience space.

“Urbanisation continues to be a defining megatrend in Asia Pacific. By 2050, the urban population in Asia is expected to grow by 50%, adding an additional 1.2 billion people. Cities in the region are at the forefront of economic opportunity, with a focus on efforts to secure a more sustainable future. The complex challenges brought by the speed and scale of urbanisation require us to take a holistic and sustainable approach, with people and planet at the heart,” said Peter Heymann, Ramboll’s Chief Operating Officer. “We are pleased to expand our footprint in the region to be able to better support our local and global clients with integrated solutions that enable them to achieve their sustainability goals.”

Ramboll already works with local and global clients on multidisciplinary projects in South Korea, including feasibility and conceptual studies for turbine and OSS foundations, environmental impact assessment studies, site conditions assessments, K-REACH and K-BPR support as well as supporting global clients with their Registration of Pesticides.

Inho Cho to lead Ramboll’s South Korea business as Country Manager

Inho Cho joined Ramboll’s global Wind division in December 2022 and will be leading the company’s South Korea Wind business as the newly appointed Country Manager. Prior to joining Ramboll, Inho held various senior positions in technical sales, sales & marketing of Samsung Heavy Industries and has intensive international experience from postings in the US, UK, Germany, Norway, and Greece.

“We will see a dramatic shift in the South Korea’s energy sourcing over the next decade, with offshore wind being one of the key enablers. The country’s economy is driven by the heavy industries sector, which accounts for more than 60% of the South Korea’s final energy use. Currently, we rely heavily on imported fossil fuels but this has to change. Our government is committed to reaching net-zero by 2050 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030. So as a part of South Korea’s Green New Deal, 12 GW of offshore energy will be deployed by 2030.” Inho Cho commented, “With a climate and topography moderately suited for large-scale onshore wind power generation, there is a huge untapped potential to leverage offshore wind development to drive the country’s green energy transition. I am thrilled to lead Ramboll’s strategic ambitions in South Korea. As the world’s leading wind consultancy we combine global expertise with local market understanding – so we are well-positioned to support our clients and partners on this exciting journey.”

Willi Muenninghoff to lead Ramboll’s Health Sciences in Asia Pacific from the new Seoul office

Willi Muenninghoff joined Ramboll in November 2022 as Regional Director for Asia Pacific in Ramboll’s Health Sciences business unit. Willi has more than 30 years’ experience in the chemicals industry and previously held positions in research & development, technical customer service and business development, as well as in product compliance, international product safety and stewardship. He has extensive experience across jurisdictions including South Korea, Australia, China and Japan, and has been based in South Korea since 2019.

“With the opening of our office in Seoul, we have expanded our global Health Sciences team, enabling enhanced support to our ongoing projects in South Korea, building on our already strong presence in Asia Pacific, and better matching the regional and global needs of our international client base.” Willi Muenninghoff commented. “Our global and regional expertise is strongly complemented by our team, with deep local knowledge and experience.”

More about Ramboll Offshore Wind

Ramboll is a world leader in offshore wind with a unique value proposition. We have been involved in more than 70% of all operating offshore wind farms globally. With our international, multidisciplinary and wind energy specific competencies, we are a true full-range service provider for offshore wind energy projects in all its phases. Ramboll supports clients globally to identify, evaluate and quantify both risks and opportunities, allowing them to make well educated, strategic decisions based on practical offshore wind project development, financing and execution experience, combined with world-class engineering know-how.

We are among the very few consultancies in the world, providing engineering services for bottom-fixed as well as floating wind foundations. Since 2007 we have been involved in floating offshore wind and today have a dedicated team of experts supporting clients globally.

Within Ramboll, over 500 highly qualified experts are working on onshore and offshore wind projects globally, operating primarily from our 15 key offices across the Nordics, Germany, Benelux, UK, Poland, Spain, Japan, the US – and now South Korea.

More about our Health Sciences practice

Some of the greatest challenges facing our clients relate to the potential impact of their business on human health and the environment. At Ramboll, we have a long and impressive history of resolving the most challenging and complex of such issues. Our founders helped define the field of human health and environmental risk assessment and we continue to provide leadership in this area, developing and integrating complex evidence to inform discussion, manage uncertainty and support decisions.

Our Health Sciences services include:

• Expert services
• Occupational & building health
• Product safety & stewardship
• Risk assessment & community health
• Science to support regulatory activity