Roche Corporate Headquarters
Herzog & de Meuron has revealed plans for the 3 billion Swiss franc [€2.5 billion], 10-year redevelopment plan for the corporate headquarters of Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche in Basel. The investment will fund the construction of a new research and development centre for around 1,900 employees, a state-of-the-art office building for up to 1,700 employees, upgrading of infrastructure and renovating the historic office building designed by Swiss architect Otto R. Salvisberg.
Many of the existing office and laboratory buildings no longer meet present-day requirements for modern, sustainable workplaces and need to be removed. Furthermore, even after staff move into Building 1 – already under construction – at the end of next year, around one-third of the 9,000 staff who work in Basel will still be in rented properties around the city. Herzog & de Meuron’s development plan foresees bringing a large part of the Basel workforce together in modern laboratories and offices on the main site on Grenzacherstrasse.
“The planned consolidation of the existing industrial site will eliminate the need to build over green zones,” said Jürg Erismann, Head of the Basel/ Kaiseraugust site. “Instead, Roche will be making more efficient use of those parts of the site that have already been developed but cannot be expanded. Sustainability is a top priority for all our construction projects,” he added.
Assuming a comparable number of workplaces, the energy used in Building 1 will be only one-fifth of the amount consumed in the 40-year-old Building 74, which will be replaced with the new research centre. This will comprise four integrated office/laboratory buildings of different heights and will be designed in consultation with the R&D team to ensure scientists’ needs are fully met. The new buildings will contain 950 office and 950 laboratory workplaces that meet state-of-the-art requirements and are due to become operational between 2021 and 2022.
The high-rise, 205m Building 2 – expected to be ready for occupation in 2021 – will be located in the inner areas of the Roche site so as to safeguard the quality of neighbouring residents’ living conditions. All buildings at the perimeter of the site will therefore be low rise.
Herzog & de Meuron