Balluff: Groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the headquarters
Additional office and administration building in Neuhausen
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Groundbreaking ceremony at the Balluff company site in Neuhausen a.d.F. with representatives of Balluff and the municipality as well as construction managers. (Image: Balluff)
he planned new building on the existing company site between Zabergäustrasse and Schurwaldstrasse will provide office workplaces for more than 530 people and a company restaurant with more than 280 seats. If everything goes according to plan, the shell will be completed by July 2022 and the building should be ready for occupation the following summer. With an investment volume of almost 60 million euros, the construction project is one of the largest single investments in Balluff's history.
"We are very pleased that construction work is starting now," said Balluff Managing Director Katrin Stegmaier-Hermle at the groundbreaking ceremony on July 28, 2021. "The new building is a clear commitment to the Neuhausen site and our 100-year history, which links us to the community."
New building bundles currently distributed office space
In the future, the new building will bundle the office space, which is currently distributed at several locations in Neuhausen, some of which are rented, in one central location. Together with the building complex on Schurwaldstrasse, which was built in the 1980s, the new multifunctional office and administration building with a floor area of 24,100 square meters forms the new campus. "We are consistently developing our Neuhausen site into an innovation and competence center for software and IIoT solutions, opto and (magneto) inductive sensor technology, and RFID," explains Balluff CEO Frank Nonnenmann.
Green courtyards and daylight
The building, which is up to twelve meters high, is regularly interrupted by greened atriums that provide natural lighting for the areas below. Each atrium is designed differently. This creates a variety of views and exits for the workforce. The exterior façade consists of a metallic curtain that brings the building to life with its slight movement. A wide atrium that cuts through the building in a T-shape and serves as an inner street, open communication zones and the new company restaurant provide central meeting spaces for Balluff employees.
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Around 530 office workplaces are to be created on a floor area of around 24,100 square meters by summer 2023. (Image: Grüntuch Ernst Architekten) -
The Wandelhalle connects the building sections and extends slightly diagonally through the building in a north-south direction. (Image: Grüntuch Ernst Architekten) -
The exterior façade consists of a metallic curtain that moves slightly in the wind. (Image: Grüntuch Ernst Architekten)
Modern building complemented by modern work concept
At the same time as construction of the new office and administration building begins, Balluff is also developing a new concept for how to work together at the site in the future and after the pandemic has been overcome. The majority of Balluff's indirect workforce has been working on a mobile basis since March 2020. "We thought about how we would like to work together in the future at an early stage," says Stegmaier-Hermle. "The pandemic has further accelerated this process. We are certain that a return to the time before Corona is not sustainable and want to enable our workforce to work much more flexibly at the site, but also on the road or from home."
Balluff has set up a so-called New Work Area. The new work model is to be tested there. On a weekly basis, different teams will try out the newly set-up office. "It is important to us not to simply impose a concept on our employees," explains Stegmaier-Hermle. "That's why we're relying on feedback from the test phase and additionally incorporating experience from mobile working to develop an optimal solution for the site."
