The new Roche tower will be ready in a year

Right at the top: Roche showed the public the view of the tallest building in Switzerland for the first time.

Simone Morger

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For some, the Roche Towers are not a beauty from the outside. The picture from the inside is very different. On Friday, the pharmaceutical company invited the media to visit the second tower. The basic concept is the same, the new tower is 205 meters and around 27 meters higher than the first. Due to the stepped construction of the two buildings, there are terraces that are accessible.

Inside, both towers are captivating in that the combination of white painting on the walls and columns and the use of lots of wood create a pleasant atmosphere. The element of the large spiral staircase, as can be found in much older Roche buildings, was used again in the second tower.

In the new tower, the purist design of Building 1 was abandoned, said site manager Jürg Erismann on the media tour. Thanks to the use of warm colors and pleasant materials, there is more of the impression of a living area and less of an office character.

Up to 500 people in parallel on the construction site

There will be no permanent jobs in Building 2 either. The employees are assigned to individual floors that are connected to each other. As in the first tower, Roche attaches great importance to the fact that there are many opportunities for employees to hold discussions – be it in a meeting room, in a cafeteria or at other seating areas.

Those responsible for Roche expect that the majority of employees will work in the office despite the corona-related home office trend. “We assume that the employees will work from home maybe one or two days a week,” says Erismann.

Whether there will actually be a third office tower is completely open. Erismann spoke several times of a vision with a view to the plans for a third high-rise. “We currently have no need for more office space,” says the site manager. The maximum height for the third tower would be 220 meters.

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The tower should be finished in about a year, the facade has been finished since the beginning of April. The interior work on the lower floors is almost complete, now the workers are working their way up. Up to 500 people work in parallel on the construction site.

Of course that costs. As with the first building, Roche raised 550 million francs for the second tower. The research complex that is being built in front of Building 2 in the direction of Wettsteinplatz is also under construction. Another 1.2 billion Swiss francs are due here.

Roche is giving up locations near the train station

The new building will offer space for 3,000 employees, the capacity of the first tower is to be increased from 2,000 to 2,600 employees. As a result, numerous external locations that Roche is currently renting in the city will probably be given up.

Roche can only be seen to a limited extent in the cards. It is clear that the company will move out of the Elsässertor at the SBB train station. The same applies to the premises on Hochstrasse, also not far from the train station. Around 1000 employees currently work at the two locations and they will move into Building 2 next year.

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At the other locations, the decision is still pending, said Erismann. Roche has larger offices near Aeschenplatz, for example on Gartenstrasse and Picassoplatz. Around 3,000 employees are currently still working outside the Roche site.

Employee convenience buildings

Almost in secret, Roche put another building into operation in the first quarter of this year. In modern German it is the “Employee Center”. As you already know from the Novartis Campus, there is a fitness center, a bank and a Coop branch.

Roche is investing a total of over CHF 2.3 billion on its site on Grenzacherstrasse. The research and development center will be the last to be completed. The inauguration is planned for the end of 2023. Underneath, an underground car park for 900 cars and 1900 bicycles is currently being built.