METRO invests in Düsseldorf campus and presents itself as an attractive employer in the region
18 August 2023
Düsseldorf has been the home of METRO since the mid-1960s. Many strings come together here and group-wide decisions for the global business are made here. At METRO AG's headquarters and in the company's various subsidiaries, some 3,400 employees from a total of 87 nations are working to drive forward the transformation into a pure-play wholesaler. Now, with the construction measures for the transformation of the site into a ONE METRO Campus soon to begin, the location will also undergo further spatial development: Modern working environments with a variety of offerings for employees, potential new talents and the Düsseldorf city community will be created in the existing buildings in the direct neighborhood to the D.STRICT quarter planned by Swiss Life Asset Managers.
"Our headquarters in Düsseldorf is of central importance for our company. We are a globally operating company and our home base is Düsseldorf. All central divisions and numerous subsidiaries work closely together here, and at the same time we are close to our customers from the gastronomy and hotel industry. We have an international flair, coupled with a down-to-earth Rhineland mentality. We see ourselves as a large team that works on the basis of common values to achieve our corporate goals, hence the name ONE METRO Campus. I am personally very much looking forward to the implementation of a modern concept that meets the needs of employees and us as an employer in equal measure. It will create a place where people like to meet to work together and exchange ideas", says Christiane Giesen, Chief People & Culture Officer and Labor Director and Member of the Management Board of METRO AG.
Construction work on the ONE METRO Campus will begin in autumn 2023 and the redevelopment is scheduled to be completed by 2026. Parts of the existing METRO administrative buildings will be made accessible to the public through gastronomy and retail uses on the ground floor and opened up to the neighbourhood. Vacant office space will be re-let to external companies.
Modern working environments - METRO Home of working
The remodelling of the ONE METRO Campus working environments is being carried out with the aim of bringing all METRO companies closer together, intensifying cross-company and cross-divisional exchange and creating modern and contemporary workplaces. METRO employees experience a dynamic place of encounter. The new working environment paired with the offer of the gastronomy partners and a focused gastro-store strengthen the ONE METRO identity internally and a modern employer profile externally.
The new architecture of the ONE METRO Campus meets the requirements of the METRO Home of Working: compact, multifunctional and flexible. Office space, co-working spaces, showrooms and communal event and community areas are planned. General home zones, i.e. areas in which the companies receive their main working space, are intended to help bridge hierarchies and departmental boundaries. Flex-office options and the implementation of a consistent shared-desk model support the change.
Integration of the METRO headquarters into the new D.STRICT city quarter
Where the METRO Markt and MediaMarkt stores are still located today, a new city quarter called D.STRICT will be developed in the coming years in the vicinity of the METRO headquarters. As part of an urban development project, METRO initiated an urban development competition and sold part of the site to Swiss Life Asset Managers. "Successful corporate headquarters like ours can no longer be considered spatially iso-lated from their surroundings. We at METRO are taking the opportunity to make our corporate brand tangible on the ONE METRO Campus and to link it very closely with our core competence, gastronomy. Sustainable gastronomic concepts will be of immense importance for the new design", explains Jürgen Schwarze, CEO METRO PROPERTIES Holding GmbH.
The METRO Campus is the biggest real estate project to date of METRO PROPERTIES, which as a subsidiary of METRO AG bundles comprehensive real estate know-how under one roof and develops innovative and sustainable concepts for wholesale and mixed-use models. In cooperation with the city of Düsseldorf, a groundbreaking district plan was created for the total area of 73,200 square metres, which finds answers to the challenges of social life in the 21st century. In the coming years until 2026/27, Swiss Life Asset Managers will prepare the planning law for the new quarter in close coordination with the state capital of Düsseldorf. "The strict separation of living, working and shopping is outdated, intelligent urban development concepts are in demand and modern urban quarters are the answer to the needs of our time. They offer a balanced mix of flats and offices, attractive green open spaces and communal areas, the integration of gastronomy, services and trade, the availability of local utilities and a modern connection to the transport infrastructure. The urban development concept of the METRO Campus of the Future combines all these factors," adds Schwarze.
METRO is a leading international food wholesaler which specialises in serving the needs of hotels, restaurants, and caterers (HoReCa) as well as independent merchants (Traders). Around the world, METRO has approx. 17 million customers who benefit from the wholesale company’s unique multichannel mix: customers can purchase their goods in one of the large stores in their area as well as by delivery (Food Service Distribution, FSD) – all digitally supported and connected. In parallel, METRO MARKETS is being developed as an international online marketplace for the needs of professional customers which has been growing and expanding continuously since 2019. Acting sustainably is one of the company principles of METRO which has been listed in various sustainability indices and rankings for many years, including FTSE4Good, MSCI and CDP. METRO operates in more than 30 countries and employs over 93,000 people worldwide. In financial year 2021/22, METRO generated sales of €29.8 billion. More information can be found at MPULSE.de, our online magazine.
