It had been looming for some time, but now it's official: The Deutsche Bundesbank is slimming down its plans for a new headquarters - because many employees are now working from home and therefore less office space is needed.

Christian Siedenbiedel

Editor in business.

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The Bundesbank's staff has been accommodated in interim quarters for some time now. The old headquarters on Frankfurt's Diebsgrund, which is best known for its striking building made of exposed concrete, is being renovated, rebuilt and expanded.

The original plans, which had been drawn up under former Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, had also attracted some attention because the new Bundesbank headquarters were to be more expensive than the elaborate headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt's Ostend. However, it has been a few years since the construction of the ECB headquarters, and construction costs have risen everywhere.

Costs should be reduced

The new President of the Bundesbank, Joachim Nagel, has now apparently made cuts. The changes to the plans are also expected to reduce costs. The Bundesbank is also reacting to the "recent sharp rise in construction costs," according to Wednesday's statement. After all, the central bank is already struggling with high economic burdens due to the increasing interest rate risks from bond purchases.

However, a central reason also seems to be the lower space requirement. After a survey, the Ifo Institute had just reported that many offices in German companies are now empty every day because employees often work from home.

Apparently, there are already companies that sublet space for this reason, but this should not be easy everywhere. There have also been companies that have reported that they are reducing the number of their buildings or slimming down plans for a new headquarters due to the increase in working from home.

40 percent less space required

From June, the Bundesbank will officially offer that its employees will be allowed to spend up to 60 percent of their working hours working from home. "This will reduce the need for office space by around 40 percent," said Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel.

The Bundesbank said that this adjustment was also unproblematic because the conversion of the old headquarters was taking place in stages anyway.

"The Bundesbank started the renovation and modernisation of the 50-year-old main building, which has since been listed as a historical monument by the state authority, as early as August 2022," the Bundesbank writes. "For new buildings, the planning did not envisage 2024 as the starting year." Now they can get by with an additional building with an area of 5000 square meters.