At the moment, the employees are spread out over 20 buildings across the city, out of which the company wants to withdraw over the next few years. „We want to shorten the distance between teams and offer good and innovative work places“, explains project director Olaf Hermanni, property manager at the Deutsche Post DHL Group. These work places shall be located in two new skyscrapers, one with 17 levels directly opposite the glass Post tower. Hermanni: „This is a clear commitment to invest in Bonn.“

The largest construction of the company will be built between Friedrich-Ebert-Allee and the train tracks (see graphic). The Post enterprise wants to purchase several sites at the Baunscheidtstraße together with the Dutch company Ten Brinke, which belong to the city of Bonn at the moment. On 16,000 square meters they want to construct one long building with five storeys and one penthouse level. It is supposed to offer a gross surface of 52,000 square meters and space for 2,500 staff members. In comparison: 2,200 men and women work in the Post Tower.

A combined project group is considered possible with Ten Brinke. „It’s still early stages at the moment, we are hoping to get the construction work started in 2020“, says Post manager Hermanni. The company is investing „significantly over 100 million Euro“. It is not yet clear if the Post Group will be owner or tenant.

Ilja Keller, Ten Brinke CEO, confirms the plans. There might be an urban development competition. The change of the land-use plan, which the city council needs to agreed to, will take between 18 and 24 months. According to the proposed resolution of the council, the investors have agreed to shoulder the costs of city planning as well as of the required surveys.

At the next meeting of the council’s economic committee the city wants to apply for the permission to sell the sites at Baunscheidtstraße 3-9, 13 and 15. Currently these addresses are home to the city company Vebowag, which might move to the Godesberger Allee in case of a sale of the site. Ten Brinke has a purchase option on the site at Baunscheidtstraße 11 as well, which is also a necessary site for the project.

The Post wants to provide space for 900 to 1000 employees in the new building at the Kurt-Schumacher-Straße 24-28. Owner Marc Asbeck wants to build the „GreenGate“ on the site of the former regional government representation building of Lower Saxony. He has permission for a building with nine storeys (32 meters high), but wants to add further eight (total height: 62 meters) to fulfil the Post’s wishes.

The city council supports these plans. The necessary construction plan needs to be orientated towards the future framework of the Federal Quarter though. Also, Asbeck needs to run a new qualification process with at least five architectural companies. In Bonn’s district administration, the draft resolution was approved by a majority vote, however was opposed by the Green Party, the Left Party and the Allianz für Bonn, but it was stopped at the environment and planning board meeting and postponed.

Marc Asbeck plans to wait until the new framework comes through before beginning a new architectural process. „We will implement the building permission at short notice“, the property developer announced. „It is up to the politicians to support the necessary purchases of sites by the Deutsche Post DHL Group and advise the council accordingly.“

The planned investment is calculated to be around 110 million Euro. The company is unambiguous: „With a view to our requirement to use a building for the longterm, only a solution with 17 floors is acceptable“, says Hermanni.

(Original text: Andreas Baumann, Translation: Mareike Graepel)