A business-historical analysis of Entreprises générales Henri Ruttiens (1878–2000)

In the past years, the emergence and development of the profession of Belgian general contractors has been researched increasingly. Although international research already indicated the relevance of additional case studies, this could hardly be realized for Belgian general contracting companies due to the limited availability of archival material. This was recently countered by the discovery of several (partly preserved) contractors’ archives in Flanders and the Brussels-Capital-Region. This paper therefore analyzes the Brussels-based general contracting company Entreprises Générales Henri Ruttiens et fils (1878–2000) from a broad business-historical perspective. By embedding this case in existing literature on the longitudinal professionalization of Belgian general contractors, the paper not only gives insight into the history of this specific company but also in general trends in the Belgian general contractors’ profession.