With a modern space concept, the company aims to create an atmosphere that promotes creative and collaborative work, explains Torsten Heising, Member of the Managing Board of SMS: ‟Our recent experience with various forms of mobile working options has shown us that we can actually get our work done wherever we are. For creative processes, though, we still need a shared environment that makes us feel inspired. The open architecture of the new Campus promotes living our corporate culture and enables us as an employer to take into special consideration what our highly skilled workforce expects from a modern workplace.”
SMS is currently working with its employees to develop the workplace of the future – including for its location in Hilchenbach. A corresponding employee survey is already underway. The results from this survey will flow into the design of the interior layout and the infrastructure.
The SMS Campus will cover a gross surface area of around 44,000 square meters and consist of five module buildings. The core of the complex will be a covered atrium serving as a meeting and communication area. A membrane-type roof with a diameter of 82 meters will connect all buildings to create a unique campus.
An adjoining staff car park will offer sufficient parking space for cars, motor cycles, and bicycles. It will be equipped with charging stations for electric cars and bicycles. Given the future investments in the infrastructure of the immediate neighborhood by the city of Mönchengladbach, the whole district will be upgraded and the new Campus will become well connected with the local public transport system.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, one could already get an impression of the dimensions of the future Campus from the ring-shaped area of removed ground. In the coming months, around 70,000 cubic meters of soil will be removed, with shell construction work for the five module buildings due to start in the spring of 2021. The shell construction will be completed as early as by the summer of 2022. The Campus will be ready for occupancy in mid/end-2023.