The automotive supplier’s new Corporate Headquarters are being built at the site of the former freight station ZF Forum will provide room for up to 600 workstations
ZF Friedrichshafen AG celebrated the groundbreaking for the ZF Forum. Construction work for the automotive supplier’s new Corporate Headquarters in Friedrichshafen has now officially started.
“We are very pleased to be able to take this important step today toward the further development of our home location of Friedrichshafen,” said ZF’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Stefan Sommer, on Tuesday in Friedrichshafen. “Now, we have another reason for looking forward to 2015.”
The ZF Forum will open in the year in which the company will celebrate its 100th anniversary. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Dr. Sommer symbolically started a pile driver, as the building will be erected on more than 300 reinforced concrete piles.
The ZF Forum will give a distinctive urban planning accent to the around 20 000 square meters of the former freight station site. The six-story building, into which ZF invests around EUR 80 million, will provide office space for up to 600 employees. In addition, the ZF Forum, with a gross floor space of 30 000 square meters, will combine the ZF-internal academy with training and conference rooms, and a publicly accessible foyer, event, and exhibition area. This will not only be home to the catering; visitors will also be able to experience ZF’s history with numerous exhibits of the historical collection and learn about forward-looking ZF technologies for the mobility of tomorrow. Temporary exhibitions can also be displayed here. In addition, there will be rooms for the Wissenswerkstatt (Knowledge Workshop) and – as a new institution – the students’ research center. Consequently, ZF is increasing its commitment toward motivating children and young people for science and technology.
“With this concept,” stressed Sommer, “the ZF Forum will become a meeting place for our customers and employees, for the citizens of Friedrichshafen, and for young people and students.” This open character was also reflected in the building’s architecture : “Professor Wolfgang Kergaßner has turned our requirements for the new Corporate Headquarters compellingly into a contemporary architectonic form.”
Sommer thanked Friedrichshafen’s First Mayor, Andreas Brand, for the “constructive support” of the construction project during the planning phase: “Without the support from the municipal administration, it would almost be impossible to realize such a project.” The redesign of Löwentaler Straße planned by the city is another sign of our good cooperation and, like the construction of the ZF Forum, will contribute to upgrading this area.
“The ZF Forum is visible testimony to our mutual bond,” said First Mayor Brand at the groundbreaking ceremony. Both the town and the company will profit in equal measure from the new Corporate Headquarters with its transparent concept. The company’s acknowledgement for its home location gives Friedrichshafen, its citizens, and the more than 8 000 ZF employees in the region a long-term perspective. “The motto of ‘Visions live!!’ not only stands for the 175th birthday of Count Zeppelin, but also fits perfectly with the start of construction on the ZF Forum,” said Brand.
The ZF Forum conforms to the latest structural engineering and energetic standards. It has been designed to exceed the values specified in the German Energy Conservation Regulations (EnEV) for efficient operating energy consumption of a building by more than 20 percent. For the heat and power supply, ZF is building a gas-fired combined heat and power unit in plant 1 with a total thermal and electrical output of two megawatts each. “With this, ZF is setting standards both in relation to architecture and urban planning as well as with regard to energy efficiency,” said ZF’s CEO, Dr. Sommer. The company not only wants to contribute to resource conservation with its products, but wants to pursue this aim with the new construction of the ZF Forum as well.
