Agile working together under one roof

Even if the general perception is that a large part of social life has come to a standstill in recent months, behind the scenes there is a lot of activity in many places: building, furnishing, redesigning and creative work is still going on. Our joint project with Creditreform in Neuss was also successfully completed in November 2020. With only 24 months of construction time and completely on schedule!

On 30 November 2020, the Creditreform teams moved into their new offices at Hammfelddamm in Neuss. In the weeks before, THINK.TANKs, ACTIVE.T tables with panels, containers and more furnishing ideas from König + Neurath were assembled here on more than 14,000 square metres of floor space. Since December 2018, a new five-storey and partly six-storey office building for 650 employees and a multi-storey car park with 425 parking spaces had been built in the immediate vicinity of the old association building. Creditreform, a specialist in creditworthiness and risk assessment with 140 years of experience, is represented at 128 locations in Germany and promises to minimise business risks by providing creditworthiness information.

Even at first glance, it is clear what distinguishes the new office spaces: Open space concepts and a mix of different office types create the conditions for agile working. The picture is characterised by individual offices, open-plan offices and different communication and retreat zones for the employees. Various furnishing ideas in several colour worlds result in a harmonious overall concept that fits in with Creditreform's self-image and working culture. König + Neurath equipped the workplaces with TALO.S motorised desks, which enable dynamic working by changing positions and contribute to promoting health in the workplace. The room systems are even more eye-catching: "We planned and designed room systems such as our THINK.TANKs, which had to be precisely adapted to the requirements of the building. The THINK.TANK in the entrance area was not only to be designed according to representative aspects, but also to be equipped with several security features, as this is where some confidential conversations and contacts take place," says Michael Hoffmann, who was in charge of the room systemes at König + Neurath.

"Our holistic approach was convincing in the end."

The building and the working worlds created in it are intended to shape and express the company's image: There is not only room here for a variety of attractive job offers, which are particularly interesting for IT specialists, but also for a future-oriented work culture.

"Our former office buildings were already very much getting on in years. The Association, Cre-ditreform and the subsidiaries were spread over three buildings, and the space no longer suited modern working methods," says Alexandra Ennenbach, Head of General Administration and Purchasing, citing the main reasons for the new building. The project, with an investment volume of 70 million euros, was to create a future-oriented, communicative office landscape that would provide an attractive workplace for specialists and employees. "We wanted to create modern working environments with open space areas and retreat zones, kitchens with lounges - and working environments that promote communication," says Ennenbach. "Another goal was to bring all companies together under one roof and to plan various safety zones for the subsidiaries into the defined floor plan."

Richard Rademacher of the office furnishing company Eßer Office Group is certain: "Our holistic approach from analysis to consulting to realisation was convincing in the end." Together with the consulting company Mensch im Büro GmbH, which is part of the group, they went through an intensive process of looking at the customer's requirements and, together with Creditreform, developed room shapes, workplaces and communication zones. "Creditreform used to work largely in cell structures with single and double offices. In the new building, open spaces and open-space structures were to dominate the picture. In workshops, we introduced the staff to the idea of flexibly used office space and dispelled concerns about acoustics, so that in the end most areas were requested as open space," says Rademacher.

The colour concept is also a result of workshops, discussions with the new construction team and the management. Two or three basic colours are the same on all floors and are complemented by other shades that are different on each floor.The departments each chose a colour for themselves from rose, blue, green, yellow, red, turquoise and others.

The first résumé of those responsible is clear: "The project was very successful, so there is not much we would do differently in future projects. The feedback has been very positive throughout. Our employees are looking forward to the new working environments and are enthusiastic about the feeling of space, the furnishings and the new possibilities," says Alexandra Ennenbach. At König + Neurath, the conclusion is similar: "We are delighted with the very positive feedback from our customer Creditreform and look forward to continued successful cooperation with our specialist trade partner the Eßer Office Group in the future," Ludwig König sums up his personal experience.