ifm will build new corporate headquarters in Essen
Continuous growth in the past years and the forecast of ongoing positive development have motivated the ifm group of companies to build new corporate headquarters in Essen.
The ifm group of companies will establish their new corporate headquarters in the ESSEN EINS office quarter which is currently under development. The move to ifm's new headquarters, situated only about 500 meters from its current location, is scheduled for 2026. The Board of the ifm group will announce this important milestone in the company’s history today in the presence of Thomas Kufen, Lord Mayor of the city of Essen, and Dr. Marcus Kruse, Managing Partner of KÖLBL KRUSE Gmbh. With the contracts now signed, project planning can start.
The Managing Partner of KÖLBL KRUSE GmbH, Dr. Marcus Kruse, Thomas Kufen, Lord Mayor of the City of Essen and Michael Marhofer, CEO of the ifm Group.
ifm’s headquarters have been based in Friedrichstraße, Essen since 2009. “The Glückaufhaus is bursting at the seams, we simply don’t have enough space for the entire staff here in Essen,” says Michael Marhofer, Chairman and co-CEO of the ifm group of companies. “This can be put down to our ongoing success which is set to continue in the future on the basis of a global market. And it goes without saying that this success entails an equivalent rise in the number of employees.” The first corporate departments already had to relocate from the Glückaufhaus to decentralized locations. "Long-time average staff growth has been about 3 % per year locally," says Christoph von Rosenberg, CFO of the ifm group of companies, citing an important key figure. Almost 600 employees currently work at the company's headquarters in Essen.
"In order to meet the increasing demand for space, modern corporate headquarters will be built in the next few years on a partial plot of the 30,000 sqm site of the former RWE headquarters on the corner of Huyssenallee and Baedekerstraße, which, unlike the Glückaufhaus, will offer us a long-term perspective," this is how Christoph von Rosenberg explains an important advantage of the new location.
Image source: Hans Blossey
"Situated in an excellent location, ESSEN EINS will be the perfect spot for ifm’s new headquarters," confirms Dr Marcus Kruse. Contemporary working environments and modern architecture will characterise the new location.
The new ifm company headquarters will be conveniently located near the main railway station and easy to reach by public transport. ifm altogether will benefit from the overall infrastructure of the Essen EINS campus.
Today, also the time schedule for the new ifm company headquarters has been presented: The planning for the new building project, now underway, should lead to a start of construction in 2024. Completion and move-in are scheduled for 2026.
"In order to be able to successfully carry out this large project, we have bundled our competences from past construction projects in Essen and Siegen and set up a dedicated project team. We are already looking forward to our new modern company headquarters in the heart of the city of Essen, where we will be able to continue our positive business trend on a long-term basis," says Michael Marhofer.
ESSEN EINS
KÖLBL KRUSE secured the approximately three-hectare site between the city centre and the main railway station, the Philharmonic Hall, Bismarckstraße and Huyssenallee – including a direct connection to the A40 – for a new development back in 2016. After RWE AG had moved out in the summer of 2020, demolition of the existing buildings on the site began in September 2020. The deconstruction measures will be completed by summer 2022 at the latest. With ESSEN EINS, an office quarter is being created in a most exclusive location, hence the quarter's brand name "ESSEN EINS".
Since acquiring the site, KÖLBL KRUSE have been busy with the urban and architectural planning and design of the site which is almost triangular from a bird's eye view, taking into account the urban planning requirements of the city of Essen. In 2019, planning consent was obtained in the context of an urban development planning process: the building fabric of the inner-city office quarter, too, will now undergo a long-lasting renewal in the course of dynamic restructuring and modernisation processes in the district. With ESSEN EINS, flexible office space will be created here that is urgently needed on the market for office property in Essen.