Roche opens tallest building in Switzerland

Roche has opened a new office building with 3,200 jobs at its headquarters in Basel. Reaching 205 meters, Building 2 is currently the tallest building in Switzerland. It has 50 floors.

With this new building, the pharmaceutical company is once again showing its commitment to its headquarters in Basel. CEO Severin Schwan commented in the press release: “Building 2 is a further visible symbol of Roche’s commitment to Basel as a location, which is where Roche was established more than 125 years ago. It is a new milestone in our area development, which is creating a highly attractive, modern site for our headquarters.”

Roche has invested 550 million Swiss francs in Building 2. Employees that were previously scattered across various buildings in Basel will come together in the new location. The building provides the opportunity for modern forms of collaboration, from teamwork to focused forms of work and a combination of remote and office work.

According to the press release, the building is “one of the world’s most sustainable high-rise office towers”. It is heated using waste heat from the local area and cooled with groundwater. Additionally, it has an energy-efficient façade, 50 percent of which is glass, and has an underground bicycle store with 400 available spaces. Another building in the area is scheduled to be opened in fall 2024: Roche is currently building a new research and development center costing 1.2 billion Swiss francs.

Lonza also has expansion plans

The chemical and pharmaceutical company Lonza also has big plans in Basel. Two more skyscrapers are to be built next to the existing Lonza high-rise. In addition to commercial and service space required by Lonza, apartments “for different needs” are also planned, according to a statement from the Canton of Basel-Stadt.