The Bundesviertel
The federal district, which covers around 481 hectares, is located between Bonn's city center and Bad Godesberg. After Bonn was designated as the federal capital in 1949, the first ministries and facilities were built in the 1950s and the urban development measure “Bonn - Parliament and Government Quarter” was implemented from 1975. Following the Bonn-Berlin decision in 1991, the plans for the area were modified. During the urban development implementation, particular emphasis was placed on high quality standards in architectural competition procedures. With the 162.5 meter high Post Tower, the tallest building in Germany outside of Frankfurt/Main, which opened in 2003, the architect Jahn from Chicago was also able to create a real landmark for the “new” Bonn.
In May 2020, the council adopted a new framework plan for the future development of the Bundesviertel. This was preceded by a planning workshop, in which the proposals of the Cityförster office prevailed as trend-setting. In addition to the focus as an office location, more people should also be able to live in the Bundesviertel in future in order to make the location more urban and lively. To this end, the range of restaurants, local amenities, cultural and leisure facilities is to be further strengthened. This development should be compatible with both urban design and the urban climate. At the same time, the aim is to promote sustainable mobility behavior by expanding the range of public transport and cycling options.
Dynamic office location
With around 1.2 million sqm of office space, the federal district is by far the most important office submarket in Bonn. Heavily characterized by large properties, the average office space per property in the Bundesviertel is over 4,100 sqm. More than a quarter of the stock has only been built since 2000, and the estimated number of workplaces in the Bundesviertel at the end of 2023 is around 48,500.
Several large new office buildings have also been constructed in the Bundesviertel in recent years and a number are in the planning stage: for example, the new extension for the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat could be completed in 2022. The sustainable and particularly energy-efficient building offers space for 330 employees, who have already moved in. The building has achieved the gold standard in the Sustainable Building Rating System (BNB). Under the name “Neuer Kanzlerplatz”, Art-Invest has developed a quarter with around 60,000 square meters of office space in three buildings for a total of 4,500 employees on the former Bonn Center site. The project, which will be completed in 2022, has been given a striking 101.5-meter-high solitaire and comprises 28 floors. In addition to Design Offices with its “corporate coworking” offerings, the main tenants are Postbank, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank already based in Bonn, the IT group Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and the IT consultancy CONET. The CONET Group relocated its headquarters from Hennef to Bonn in fall 2022 and moved in with around 700 employees. The campus for the ECMWF (European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) in Bonn is also being built in the federal district on the federally owned property in Bad Godesberg-Nord on Ludwig-Erhard-Allee near the BMU. The plan is for a 17-storey office tower with a glass façade for up to 360 employees with underground parking, a conference building and a canteen. The foundation stone has already been laid and the new building is due to be handed over in 2027. Landmarken Bonn Green Canyon GmbH is also planning to build a new office complex with around 17,300 square meters of floor space in the Bundesviertel. Between Godesberger Allee and Am Dreizehnmorgenweg, two new 7-storey and 5-storey buildings with 7,450 square meters and 9,860 square meters will be built.
The Bonner Bogen
Bonner Bogen is the name given to a development area of around 12.2 hectares located directly on the Rhine in Bonn-Ramersdorf. A cement factory was located there between 1858 and 1987. In 1988, the buildings were completely demolished with the exception of three listed buildings. Since 2003, the Bonn-Visio company has been developing various projects on eight building plots according to the master plan by architect Karl-Heinz Schommer. The aim of the investors was to create space for around 4,000 workplaces in a quarter with offices, apartments, restaurants, surgeries, a Life & Style hotel and a kindergarten on the site with a gross floor area of around 150,000 m² (100,000 m² above ground, 50,000 m² underground). Around 50 companies have moved into the buildings on Bonner Bogen in recent years, including Dedalus HealthCare GmbH with its German headquarters, the internationally renowned Beta Klinik, the innovative Scopevisio AG, a research college at the University of Bonn and the Digital Hub Region Bonn. The mix of uses and the new “start-up culture” have enabled the Bonner Bogen to further raise its profile. The Bonn-Visio Group is currently implementing several projects, including the development of the new building plans for the Innovation Greenhouse (IGH). Completion of the building is scheduled to start in mid-2023. The building will have 3,500 square meters of rentable space. It will be built to high ecological standards and will have a green roof and photovoltaics.
High-quality framework planning
The Hotel Kameha Grand Bonn is the focal point and architectural feature of the Bonn Arch. It has 254 rooms and offers event areas for 2,500 people. The hotel has received various awards, such as the Mipim Award 2010 for the best hotel project worldwide. The Rheinwerk 3 office campus, which comprises around 21,500 square meters of office and restaurant space, completed the Bonn Arch on the Rhine front in 2014. Software provider SER is represented in the first building block, while Sirtex Medical Europe, data protection experts 2B Advice, Plancal Service- und Entwicklungs GmbH and the FOM University of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management, chefkoch.de and Accenture, for example, have moved into the other two building blocks. At the rear of the site, Ewald Hohr Projektentwicklungen is aiming to develop a 33,000 square meter area uniformly in the style of classical modernism. The first construction phase with 16,000 square meters of floor space has already been completed. The headquarters of the Dohle retail group, which operates the Hit stores, moved from Siegburg to Bonn in 2023 and offers 200 employees a new modern workplace in the Rhein-Palais.
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