“Anyone who wants to produce as a commercial person in Zurich must be a bit crazy”
This is what the interior of the modern MACH commercial building in Zurich will look like.picture pd.
interview
Zurich is the financial center or European headquarters for Google. Industry has no place in the expensive city. So a common misconception. Johannes Eisenhut from the organization “Made in Zurich” counters this. In the watson interview, he explains why we need urban production and presents the project for the modern commercial building MACH.
11/20/2022, 1:38 p.m11/20/2022, 2:09 p.m
What do you think of the Europaallee, the controversial new district near Zurich’s main train station?
The Europaallee is primarily concerned with entertainment and shopping.
Not only. Google has – felt – rented half of the rooms. And the Europaallee is neither a bedroom nor an industrial district. Isn’t this exactly the mix you want if business is to have a place in the city?
I am interested in the productive city. For example, our office built the “Noerd” factory for the “Freitag” brothers in Oerlikon. Now we are building the “MACH” on the cooking area, a modern commercial building where things are manufactured.
Johannes Eisenhut is Managing Director of real estate developers Senn Resources AG. Their projects include the Swiss Innovation Park Main Campus in Allschwil near Basel, the Noerd in Zurich-Oerlikon, the Stans culinary monastery and currently the MACH on the Koch area. Eisenhut is also on the board of the “Made in Zurich Initiative” association.
How exactly do you have to imagine that? Will carpenters, bakers, etc. work there? Or, what is very trendy at the moment, chocolatiers and coffee roasters?
These are the popular prejudices. This overlooks the fact that there are still many traditional trades in the city. I’m thinking of the construction trades, carpenters, plumbing, etc., but also printers. They need showrooms in the city so that they can sell their products. We need businesses that live mainly from the city, or that – like “freitag” – have become a brand for the city.
There are still businesses in the city of Zurich, for example in the Binz district. Is not that enough?
I like Binz a lot, much better than Europaallee, if I may be honest. Good projects have also emerged in Altstetten.
For a long time, Altstetten was considered a bit frivolous. Now you want to realize the super chic MACH commercial building there on the former Koch site. Is this a hipster dream come true?
If you want to be successful as a businessman in the city, you have to work hard. If you want to make junk in a corrugated iron barracks, you really have to get out of the city. If, on the other hand, the trade is housed in a building that corresponds to the state of the art of modern architecture, then this fits in perfectly with an urban quarter. So it is no longer necessary to hammer in the inner courtyard with the window open.
Traditionally, traders are considered conservative. The SVP used to be called the Farmers’, Trades and Citizens’ Party. The trade you want to attract has a more alternative flavor. Or not?
In addition to my job at Senn, I’m also involved in the “Made in Zurich” initiative. We come more from the creative industry, I don’t deny that. And yes, this trade tends to be alternative. However, I don’t think that creative people should be equated with hipsters.
Hipster is not an insult.
I know, but it’s a label that denotes a certain age group at a certain time. If you want to use that, “freitag” has been a hipster for 30 years. Creativity, on the other hand, is a quality that always remains. There is an industry that is inventive and there is an industry that is operational. Some take care of open spaces, others of parking spaces.
What is the relationship between “Made in Zurich” and the trade association?
Better and better. At first they were annoyed about “Made in Zurich”. We now know and appreciate each other and also pursue joint projects.
Will traditional tradesmen also be welcome in the MACH building once it is up and running?
Secure. This home isn’t just for coffee machine makers or chocolatiers, but for reliable ones who worry about parking.
«This house is not only intended for coffee machine manufacturers or chocolatiers, but for reliable people who are worried about parking spaces.»
So aren’t cargo bikes obligatory?
Not at all, we have a full-fledged truck delivery service and even an underground car park that also has space for small articulated lorries. At the moment we don’t even know who WILL move in. The bidding has only just begun. If we’re lucky, a good mix of classic and creative trades will emerge. We would also like to have a bit of digital production. But not everyone who can cobble together a PowerPoint presentation is a digital producer.
Then what do you think of?
I am thinking, for example, of a young woman who recently launched a successful game internationally. And if everything that is made by Google for the Metaverse today actually comes from Zurich, then I think that’s great too.
Doesn’t that belong in the Technopark?
That does not matter. We don’t see ourselves as competitors.
So what is special about your commercial building?
A mixture of industry and park is emerging, right in the middle of the city. Those who work there may live nearby. This creates a great bond with the city.
Business can also look like this.
Do you already have other projects with Senn?
In Basel, we are building the Basel Area Innovation Park on 50,000 square meters. THIS WILL WORK FOR US FOR A FEW YEARS. In Zurich, the next commercial project is not yet known. I just read that the slaughterhouse in Zurich is going to disappear and there will also be free space for business. Of course we are interested in that.
Do you also want to attract businesses from outside Zurich?
No, you can’t. A change of location is difficult for the business. We have to promote the companies that have been founded in Zurich. They want to stay.
However, they often have to leave Zurich because it has simply become too expensive. The added value per employee at Google or UBS is many times that of a businessman.
You actually have to be a bit crazy if you want to run a manufacturing business in the city of Zurich. Luckily we have enough such weirdos. Just think of a brewery on Badenerstrasse, or the foodies that have multiplied rapidly. If they move away, it’s not because of the added value that can be used, but because they can’t find any space. They constantly have to live with the fear that their landlord will tell them that he wants to convert their workshop into a housing development.
Today, however, it has also gotten through to Zurich that pure sleeping quarters are no longer desired.
Sure, but what can the city do to prevent that? YOU ONLY HAVE A LIMITED NUMBER OF RELATIVES THAT YOU CAN MAKE SOMETHING LIKE THAT MACH. That’s why the traders shouldn’t lie to themselves either. In the city you will not find the cheap rooms that are still available outside.
Does it exist after all, repression?
You don’t have to be Google to operate in the city. But you have to be smart. Rents in the MACH building will not be cheap. But the rooms are so high that with a clever partitioning one can reflect the cost down to a suburban level. We also hope for the show cheese dairy effect.
Thanks to robots, industry also needs less and less space.
What do you mean with that?
The customer can watch a product being made and has confidence in it. The manufacturer has no transport costs and can also demand higher prices.
The “Made in Zurich Initiative” is a platform that brings together “urban productivists” of all stripes under a label that can be worn with pride. “Made in Zurich” is an official designation of origin for products that are manufactured in Zurich.
Isn’t there a danger that a trade will develop in the city that doesn’t have to be profitable in the first place? A rich banker who at 50 fulfills his dream of producing baguettes, or runs a boutique for his trophy wife who is 20 years his junior?
The people who take part in “Made in Zurich” are anything but that. They are people of conviction. And if the city is proud of its tech startups, then it should be proud of its commercial startups too. If you can keep them in the city, for example the very successful soap manufacturer Söder, then that is also an image gain.
Monopolization also exists in Switzerland. Isn’t there a risk that successful start-ups will be bought up by large corporations?
This mainly applies to the tech start-ups. So it makes sense that the city of Zurich doesn’t just focus on ETH and its start-ups. There are also innovative people in business. And they don’t start their business to sell it, but because they want to make a good product. To ensure that they do not go away, suitable rooms must be made available to them. Not every innovation necessarily has to come from America. We have also earned a reputation.