Construction of the Cologne Oval Offices gets underway

The success story of the Cologne real estate market – which has been hurtling from one record to the next over the past few months – continues: in the Rhine metropolis, construction work on the Cologne Oval Offices went ahead at the end of May. The pro-ject has an investment volume of €80 million and is being developed by MEAG, the asset manager of Munich Re and the ERGO Insurance Group.

Cologne’s Urban Development Officer Bernd Streitberger is looking forward to this international-level complex, designed by Berlin architects Sauerbruch Hutton. Dr. Knut Riesmeier, Managing Director of MEAG, welcomes the growing internationalisation of Cologne and sees good opportunities for further positive development ahead.

At the end of May the stage was set: the construction of the Cologne Oval Offices (COO) com-menced on Cologne's Gustav Heinemann water front. The COO are situated in one of the few outstanding sites still available on Cologne's booming office space market: directly adjacent to the Rhine, yet safe from flooding, plus an excellent infrastructure in terms of both transport connections and such soft factors as customer proximity, shops and recreational facilities. The office space will be marketed alongside the completion of the construction, which is pegged for mid-2009.

Key data on the Cologne Oval Offices:

- Over 30,000 sqm of office space in two 5 and 6-floored buildings, grouped in curved lines around an oval inner courtyard.
- Office space for a total of over 1,680 employees in rented units which can be divided up into different sizes – according to tenants' requirements.
- Flexible and variable: the organic form permits a range of different building depths and optimises the layout of individual, group, combined or open-plan offices according to tenants' requirements, while offering a high space efficiency.
- Natural light through the glass facade with a high utilisation of daylight. An iridescent facade with coloured sunshade elements creates an alternating play of colours.
- Energy and air conditioning concepts based on natural resources.

Buildings Cologne is looking forward to
The architecturally and technologically impressive office building not only pleases future tenants and adjacent owners but also Cologne's Senior Urban Development Officer Bernd Streitberger. The urban councillor, responsible for the department Urban Development, Planning and Construction, is both a spatial planner and a businessman by profession – and, as such, takes pleasure in the prospect of a successful symbiosis of aesthetics, economy and ecology. "Office realms are being created here which meet the highest standards of architectural development, optimise workplace quality, make use of an energy and air conditioning system based on natural resources and also achieve high economic efficiency – these are buildings that Cologne is looking forward to," Streitberger explains. Moreover, he regards the construction of the Cologne Oval Offices as a positive and promising signal for a further increase in the attrac-tiveness of the location. "Apart from the excellent infrastructure with direct connections to public transport, motorways and the airport, Cologne offers a unique, well-developed and vibrant atmosphere, combining excellent qualities as a professional location with a pleasant living environment. I am convinced that this is unique in Germany and this is corroborated by the evergrowing number of companies interested in putting down roots here," says Streitberger, in his appraisal of Cologne as a real estate location. "The Cologne Oval Offices will take up a central position in Cologne's profile."

Room for great plans and ideas
MEAG's Managing Director Dr. Knut Riesmeier explains his company's involvement in Cologne as follows: "We believe that these buildings will find their place in Cologne's real estate market and that they will be of interest to regional, national and international tenants. According to Riesmeier, the motto of the Cologne Oval Offices is: "Room for great plans and ideas." "Cologne has shown itself highly stable as a location for office properties over the past few years and has entered the ranks of the 'Big Five' in this segment, alongside Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf," he continues. Riesmeier goes on to explain that the city has a growing service sector and presents an increasingly dynamic and cosmopolitan image. Riesmeier is convinced that "Exceptional buildings of international format will continue to be in high demand here."

Flexible, organic, ecological
The Cologne Oval Offices are scheduled to be fully ready for occupancy in the second half of 2009. One characteristic feature of the buildings is the high degree of flexibility of the rooms, which can be divided up according to the tenants' requirements. Relying entirely on the use of natural resources, the ecologically and economically sound energy and air conditioning concept also represents the state of the art. For example, the bank filtrate of the Rhine is harnessed as a regenerative cooling source for heat regulation in the building. The external appearance of the building is defined by coloured sunshade elements on a glass facade. This creates the effect of iridescent colours in natural colours, which adopt the nuances of the environment.

For more information and pictures, visit www.coo.de

Please feel free to request individual articles on the subjects of the energy concept, water lo-cation, economic efficiency, location quality, architecture and workplace quality for your editorial work. Just send an e-mail to presse@coo.de.

MEAG MUNICH ERGO AssetManagement GmbH in Munich is the asset manager for Munich Re and the ERGO Insurance Group. With units in New York and Hong Kong, MEAG is internationally geared and, alongside the management of Group funds, it also focuses on business with partners outside the Munich Re Group. MEAG's assets under management currently total some €184 billion, around €13 billion of which are invested in real estate.

Munich, 5 June 2007

Contact:
Dr. Josef Wild
Telephone: +49 89 | 2489-2072
Fax: +49 89 | 2489-2075
E-mail: JWild@meag.com