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In the framework of the significant evolution that the Infrastructural sector is living, CESI Group has established ISMES as a company totally dedicated to civil and infrastructure engineering. Through ISMES, we offer effective solutions for a sustainable world to meet our clients’ needs.

ISMES activities embrace the entire life cycle of complex infrastructures , supporting customers in every phase of their civil engineering projects: feasibility studies and structural / safety assessments; hydrogeological risk analysis ; design and construction management; design, installation and maintenance of structures and territory monitoring systems; consultancy and design activities in the dam safety and hydropower fields; diagnostics of existing structures. Please click on the following link to visit our services pages.

Brief history

1951 – ISMES (Istituto Sperimentale Modelli e Strutture) was created as a non-profit, limited liability corporation. The young team of engineers, industrial specialists and technicians soon became world leaders in their field and the company rapidly gained notoriety in the world of dam-building.

1951-1961 Over the next decade, ISMES supported the design and structural assessment of more than 60 large concrete dams, mostly arch and arch-gravity, in Italy and worldwide, including Switzerland, Spain, Yugoslavia, Mexico, Australia and Argentina.

1960 – 2000 Following the collapse of the Frejus dam in Provence in 1959, the World Bank announced that all the dam projects which were relying on their financial support were required to be modelled and tested at ISMES. In parallel, Dam inspection authorities in Spain and Switzerland, lacking proper capabilities in their own countries, decided to rely on ISMES’ expertise and testing facilities in Bergamo.

2004 – CESI takes over ISMES, expanding its Electrical and Environmental domains with the Civil and Structural expertise and enabling the synergies coming from a more integrated portfolio oriented to the Energy and Infrastructure industries. 

2004 – 2021 Over the last two decades ISMES continued to carry out its core activities as a CESI Division, supporting the structural safety of hydropower plants and other key infrastructures proving engineering services as well as developing and implementing structural monitoring systems. The recent years has seen a significant geographical growth, particularly in Latin America, as well as a more enhanced business diversification beyond the energy sector, with flagship assignments particularly in the transport and natural risks sectors. 

2022 – CESI decided to focus its civil oriented competence to better address the upcoming market opportunities. To this aim ISMES is enhanced from being a business Division to an Independent company within the CESI group. The ISMES activities are now strengthened to cover the entire life cycle of a complex civil infrastructure , from early stage feasibility studies, safety assessments, hydrological risk analysis to a full set of design and engineering services, construction management and supervision. Moreover, the integration with ISTEDIL, the laboratory of the CESI group focused on the test and inspection on construction materials, will enable a wider and more integrated offer, able to better fulfill the increasing challenges of the infrastructural sector.