Press releases, 2008-04-30

Topping-off ceremony for the second section of the FIZ Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Center

In one short year, the consortium consisting of Infraserv Höchst, LHI Leasing GmbH and Munich-based Henn Architects completed the extended shell for the second section of the FIZ Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Center (FIZ).

FIZ is a joint venture of the State of Hesse, the City of Frankfurt and the Frankfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce, which are also shareholders in FIZ Frankfurter Innovationszentrum Biotechnologie GmbH, the Center's operator. The first section of the FIZ was opened in 2004 after only 15 months of construction. It, too, was built by the Infraserv Höchst-led consortium. On April 30, 2008, after only 11 months of construction, the consortium held the topping-off ceremony for the second section.

The contract for additional tenant-specific improvements also went to Infraserv Höchst, who is now working hard to complete all the interior-finishing work for the entire building. In total, the contract is worth around EUR 35 million for Infraserv Höchst. The basic finishing and services work will be wrapped up in late September; the tenant-specific improvements should be completed by early 2009. The finished building will feature not only a conference center, a cafeteria and offices in an open business-club plan, but also clean rooms and pharmaceutical laboratories.

"Infraserv Höchst is honored to be contributing to this cutting-edge project. After all, there was no guarantee that the contract for the second section of the building would go to the consortium consisting of Henn Architects, LHI Leasing and Infraserv Höchst as the prime contractor. We are delighted that our design was selected for this demanding project, and see the award decision as an expression of the customer's satisfaction with the quality of our work in the first section of FIZ," said Roland Mohr, Managing Director of Infraserv Höchst at the topping-off ceremony.

Successful engineering design applied to second building section

As the prime contractor, Infraserv Höchst is responsible for the design and construction of the overall complex, including all tenant-specific improvements. It is also engineering all the building services. All told, it is building five additional three-story modules and a multi-functional center with a gross building area of 16,800 m². 60 percent of each building module will be used as laboratory space, and 40 percent as office space. Like the existing structures in the FIZ, the modules are arranged around the courtyard so as to complete the overall complex. The architecturally sophisticated multi-functional center in the courtyard will serve food and drinks in order to spark more communication in the Innovation Center. Likewise, a conference center in the FIZ provides a forum for sharing innovative ideas with the Science City Riedberg.

"The FIZ building complex is unique in its standardized, yet highly versatile laboratory facilities, which can be easily adapted to tenants' special needs, even in the second section. Initially, some experts questioned whether we could develop a design that would meet the wide-ranging requirements of a pharmaceutical-research powerhouse like Merz. However, we won them over, have completed the planning phase and have begun installing the tenant-specific improvements," said Benno Blessenohl, Infraserv's project manager. Thanks to their multi-functional design, the modules perfectly satisfy the operator's need for flexibility.