DEG lays foundation stone for its extension building

• Additional office space in Cologne’s city centre
• Featuring distinctive "Skybox"

Construction work for the extension building of DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, in the city centre of Cologne is progressing steadily: On Thursday, 22 October 2015, the foundation stone for the new office building was laid. "DEG has continued to grow successfully in recent years. Our head offices designed to house 450 staff are now full to capacity," said Bruno Wenn, Chairman of the DEG Management Board. The ceremony was attended by, among others, the Chairman of DEG’s Supervisory Board Hans-Joachim Fuchtel, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development and Dr. Norbert Kloppenburg, Member of the Executive Board of KfW. The city of Cologne was represented by deputy mayor Andreas Wolter.

Right opposite DEG’s headquarters, additional office space is going to be created for the DEG staff by the end of 2017. "Just like our head offices, the extension building is to guarantee impressive sustainability and cost-effectiveness and will offer our staff a comfortable working environment," stated DEG Chairman Wenn. DEG has commissioned the Cologne-based branch of MBN Bau AG for the structural engineering.

The architects’ office Slapa Oberholz Pszczulny (SOP) from Düsseldorf created the design for the new building. The plans are for a five-storey building with each 660 square metre floor space that will accommodate around another 120 workspaces. The architectural design features a glass façade broken up by projections and recesses. At the same time it incorporates design elements of the main DEG building. The glass "Skybox" will be a striking distinctive feature of the extension: occupying around 200 square metres, erected on the Agrippastrasse / Nord-Süd-Fahrt corner above the fourth floor and surrounded by green roof areas. The head offices and the extension building will be linked by a visually attractive underground passage-way.

Before the construction work started, DEG had made the "new talents – temporary art tower" in the existing building in Aggripastraße available for temporary cultural use, offering young people in Cologne space to be creative. As part of its civic commitment, DEG thus contributed towards the Agrippa Quarter, which is becoming a magnet for culture in Cologne with the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum and the Literaturhaus (Literature House).

DEG has been based in the cathedral city of Cologne since its foundation in 1962 and today it is one of Europe’s largest development finance institutions. In the past year alone, DEG committed EUR 1.5 billion for investments by enterprises in developing and emerging-market countries.