Bundesbank – Frankfurt am Main – Bundesbank conversion as a billion-euro project? Cost estimate 2023 – economy
Frankfurt / Main (dpa) – According to information from the “Handelsblatt”, the renovation and expansion of the Bundesbank headquarters in Frankfurt could cost billions. The project is likely to be “considerably more expensive than the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB),” writes the newspaper (Tuesday). The Bundesbank is looking forward to “a reliable cost estimate” for 2023 and a detailed schedule in prospect.
The new ECB building in Frankfurt’s Ostend, which was officially opened in March 2015, had devoured 1.3 billion euros. Previously, it was estimated at 850 million euros. But building materials and services became more expensive, and the integration of the listed wholesale market hall into the new ECB building was more complex than expected.
The Bundesbank, which currently has several locations in Frankfurt, will create space for 5,000 employees on the site of its headquarters. The main building, which was built between 1967 and 1972, is also to be extensively renovated. Around 2000 employees will move to Frankfurt city center during the construction work.
“The campus project is still in the planning phase and important decisions have not yet been made, so that the question of the expected total costs cannot yet be answered,” said the Bundesbank. “Planning has begun for the new buildings designed in the architecture competition.
The Bundesbank demands that it consider “striking comparisons with previous construction projects (…) to be misleading”. Between 2016 and 2020 alone there have been increases in construction costs of four to five percent annually. In addition, “the requirements for public construction projects have changed substantially, especially with regard to ecological sustainability,” explained the central bank.
According to earlier planning, the new buildings should begin in 2024 at the earliest. The Bundesbank currently expects the new buildings to be moved into at the beginning of the 2030s.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211109-99-924229 / 3