From Building Construction to Underground: Anna Heep Says Goodbye After More Than 20 Years

Anyone who wanted to visit Anna Heep in recent years had to go high up. Until recently, her office was on the 15th floor of City Hall. In the future, she’ll be heading in the opposite direction. After more than 20 years with the city, Anna Heep, division head of the city’s building construction management and deputy department head, is trading her construction plans for a scuba tank and fins. Now that she’s retired, the passionate diver wants to finally get back underwater more often—a hobby that often had to take a back seat amid construction sites, meetings, and political committees.

“There were always interesting projects. That’s why I stayed—even though the beginning was tough,” Heep says, looking back. “Now I’m looking forward to having more time for diving and finally being able to focus specifically on protecting the oceans.” Still, saying goodbye isn’t easy for her. “The changing circumstances and the resulting reorientation make the decision easier for me, but I’ll miss the team and the projects,” says Heep.

In November 2004, at the age of 41, the architect joined City Hall as the head of the municipal real estate division. She moved from the independent and “glamorous” world of architecture into public administration, where she encountered new—and in some cases, different—workflows.

Added to this was her personal situation: her son was just three years old. Nevertheless, she decided to take the step into a leadership position. “The stereotypes and role models were still very entrenched back then. Many people didn’t believe that, as a mother and at my age, I’d still be able to find a good job. At times, I believed that too,” she recalls today. But in the end, Heep prevailed against some 240 applicants.

Above all, the renovation and new construction of schools and daycare centers had a lasting impact on her work and the city. With the launch of the educational construction program in 2006, Offenbach embarked on a major investment drive. Since then, over 675 million euros have been invested in the construction, renovation, and expansion of schools and daycare centers. Of the approximately 2,300 Offenbach children under the age of 6 attending daycare, 81 percent go to new or fully renovated facilities. Among the approximately 18,800 students, the figure is around 60 percent. In 2015, she completed continuing education to become a school construction consultant at the Montag Foundation for Youth and Society.

She is particularly proud of the new construction of the Hafenschule, as well as the renovations and expansions of the Waldschule Tempelsee and the Rudolf-Koch-Schule. Regarding the latter two projects, Heep emphasizes: “These buildings continue to shape our city to this day. It was important to us to preserve their architectural character from the 1950s.” For her, building culture was never just a technical term. “Municipalities serve as role models. Good architecture makes a city more livable and tells a story about its history.”

Those who worked with Anna Heep found her to be a pragmatic problem-solver. “With every task, we asked ourselves: How can we solve it well, quickly, and cost-effectively?” She demonstrated this, among other things, during the educational construction program. The renovation and expansion of the Buchhügel Vocational Training Center and the construction of the new Beethovenschule were to be carried out as part of a PPP (public-private partnership) process. For the city, however, this process was uncharted territory. Without hesitation, Heep worked with a team of external consultants to establish the necessary structures to carry out both projects between 2010 and 2013.

At the same time, she advocated for simpler administrative processes. As a result, a framework agreement was established in 2005 with the municipal EEG—now OPG (Offenbacher Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft mbH)—regarding the implementation of building construction measures on the city’s existing building stock. This made it possible, for example, to carry out urgent construction work in schools and daycare centers much more quickly and with less red tape. She also played a key role in accelerating the planning process for the largest school construction project in Offenbach’s history: the new Emmy-Noether-Schule. Her goal was always to move projects forward—without losing sight of legal certainty and due diligence, including financial considerations.

Since 2017, she has served as deputy director of the Office of Planning and Construction. During extended absences, she also temporarily took sole charge of the office on an acting basis. Since she joined, the small team of three employees has grown to 11 architects and two real estate management staff members. “It’s a great team. I’ve always really enjoyed working with them. I sincerely hope that things will continue this way under new department leadership,” said Heep.

Her next journey of discovery will no longer take her to construction sites. Instead of construction plans, her itinerary now includes diving plans; instead of meetings, coral reefs. After more than 20 years of helping shape the city, she is now looking forward to further exploring the underwater world.