It was the scene of one of the most spectacular cases of economic fraud in the Federal Republic of Germany and probably one of the most photographed German office buildings in recent years: In the Dornach industrial park, the now insolvent payment service provider Wirecard was planning to soar further; Among other things, a new, shiny corporate headquarters should be built next to the existing headquarters. As is well known, nothing came of this. When the insolvency proceedings against Wirecard opened in June 2020, a construction site that had been started remained in Aschheim. That is about to change: The real estate developer Rock Capital from Grünwald wants to build an office complex there based on a post-pandemic concept and thus set new standards in office design.
In 2016, Rock Capital was still happy about the financially promising order to build the new Wirecard headquarters. When the extent of the fraud and the bankruptcy of the company became clear, one had to “take a deep breath”, says Rock Capital managing director Andreas Wißmann. In the midst of the pandemic with the growing trend towards home offices, the entire real estate industry is currently struggling to find suitable tenants for their offices.
In order to bring a building as large as the one on Einsteinring with a total area of almost 42,000 square meters to the man or woman, even professionals currently need a lot of skill, especially since Aschheim offers good connections with the S-Bahn and motorway, but it does no longer counts as a Munich inner position. In view of this, Rock Capital wants to convince potential tenants of the location with a specially developed concept. The real estate developers from Grünwald have bundled their own experiences from the pandemic and the home office and enriched them with expert opinions from health science in order to build what they call “the office of the future”, an “immune office” that supports health and thinks about the well-being of future users.
Completion is planned for the end of 2022
“Heads” is the working title of the four-story office complex on Einsteinring, which should be finished by the end of 2022. The employees of the companies that Rock Capital wants to win as tenants can expect a state-of-the-art work environment that offers space for meetings with different group sizes as well as places of retreat. Thanks to four atriums that resemble oases of calm with real trees, green plants and water basins, twelve roof terraces with a choice of barbecue area and lounge furniture, a rich selection of food, sports facilities, cool boxes for shopping and a concierge, the up to 2000 people who can work in the building should feel so comfortable that they might like to spend part of their free time there. On closer inspection, the concept looks familiar from large US companies. “If you don’t have to go to the office, you have to want to go to the office,” said Wißmeier.
In addition to the feeling of well-being at work, a sophisticated system of air filters, heat exchangers, temperature scanners should keep pathogens away from the offices, even aside from Covid-19. Sensors control air conditioning, light and heat in order to use energy as efficiently as possible. A dedicated app provides an overview of free workplaces for desk sharing as well as the 760 parking spaces in the own and green car park. Sustainability was also a key theme in construction. The new complex is being built along the concrete skeleton of the original building from the 1990s, and Rock Capital uses recyclable materials for the flooring. The house is connected to geothermal energy and has a photovoltaic system. 102 bicycle parking spaces with service stations, e-charging points and car sharing should make it attractive for employees not to have their own car.