The project will allow Continental to bring its existing administration centres, some of which are located in the city of Hanover, together in a single complex. The new corporate headquarters is to be built on either side of Hans-Böckler-Allee near Hanover’s ‘Pferdeturm’ and will occupy a gross footprint of 46,000 square metres. The plan is to link the buildings on either side of the street by building a bridge over it.
Three firms were awarded first place during the initial stage of the of architecture competition: Henn from Munich, gmp International GmbH from Hamburg and KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten GmbH from Frankfurt am Main. The design recommended for implementation scored particularly highly because of the flexible interior design opportunities that it presented, not to mention its special bridge system. ‘Henn’s design symbolises and promotes the culture of innovation and networking at Continental from an outstanding architectural perspective. It meets our demand for agile, flexible and interconnected collaboration throughout the entire organisation,’ said Continental’s CEO Dr Elmar Degenhart.
‘Precise specifications are essential if we are to translate the corporate culture into architectural language while meeting the very highest sustainability standards,’ declared Martin Albrecht, Drees & Sommer’s project partner with responsibility for the project. The project management and consultancy firm advised the technology company in this task, provided potential analyses and coordinated the architecture competition. Continental will also draw on Drees & Sommer’s support when developing contract-awarding strategies for planning and construction.
Environmental factors play a central part in this. The most important criteria include a high level of resource efficiency, the selection of ecology-friendly materials, high user comfort and optimum life cycle costs. Employees are due to relocate to the new premises in 2021 as part of the company’s 150th anniversary celebrations.