 |
| Courtesy Infraserv Hoechst |
| CEO of Infraserv Hoechst,
Dieter Kreuziger |
 |
| Courtesy Infraserv Hoechst |
| Smokestacks characterize
the old Hoechst factory site even as biotechnology
and research firms move in |
For more than a century, the Hoechst industrial
complex was a trademark for Frankfurt business and
one of the city’s biggest employers. Originally
a dye works, Hoechst AG became one of the world’s
biggest chemical and pharmaceutical companies. In
the 1990s, however, Hoechst AG disappeared in a
flurry of divestments, spinoffs and mergers, leaving
the sprawling redbrick complex in western Frankfurt
in need of a new tenant.
Enter Infraserv Hoechst, a closely held spinoff
of Hoechst with the mission to redevelop the factory
works as an industrial park – at the time an
innovative concept that is now being copied by other
European factory sites. Industry Park Hoechst offers
four square kilometers of self-contained industrial
space, five minutes from one of the world’s
biggest and best-connected airports, complete with
its own river port and railroad spurs.
With an infrastructure that includes its own water
purification system – which offers six grades
of water – and two fire stations (one on each
side of the river), Industry Park Hoechst offers
tenants a turnkey proposition that few sites can
match.
“Our strength is the ability to combine different
scientific areas and find solutions on a very broad
scientific basis,” says Dieter Kreuziger, chief
executive of Infraserv, sitting in his office in
the spectacular building designed by Peter Behrens
in the 1920s as an example of expressionistic architecture.
Employs 22,000
The industrial park already has 80-some companies
in pharmaceuticals, chemistry, biotechnology, environmental
science and related areas and employs more than
22,000 people. Fourteen new companies employing
2,000 people signed up last year and Infraserv currently
is in talks with 28 companies to come to the site.
In February, IonGate Biosciences GmbH, a two-year-old
startup with 18 employees announced it was moving
to the park from its quarters at the Max Planck
Institute for Biophysics to develop its membrane
protein technology. The company cited the facts
that some of its clients were also located in the
park while the nearness of the Frankfurt airport
gives them easy access to clients in the U.S.
The biggest tenants are Aventis, Clariant and
Celanese, which inherited Hoechst AG’s activities
in pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals and base
chemicals respectively. But other tenants include
the crop science affiliate of Bayer – once
the arch-rival of Hoechst – as well as companies
like Biochemie (a Novartis affiliate), Ticona (technical
polymers), Messer (industrial gases), Solvay (fluorine
and derivatives), DyStar (textile dyes), and New
England BioLabs.
‘Highest standards’
“We have the highest standards, proven; this
is not something on the drawing boards,” Kreuziger
says. “Companies can concentrate on their core
business. We deal with every problem in infrastructure.”
The fire stations, for instance, which guarantee
they will be at an emergency within three minutes
of an alarm, translate into lower building costs
and lower insurance for tenants.
Tenants can locate in existing buildings or work
with Infraserv to construct new, tailormade facilities.
Infraserv will even act as contractor and take care
of construction and financing. Aventis invested
more than150 million euros for two new insulin factories.
Besides physical infrastructure, Infraserv sells
its expertise, which is particularly interesting
for startups. With its well-oiled contacts to local
authorities, Infraserv can be especially useful
in getting the necessary approvals for certain types
of technology installations.
“There are two prejudices about locating in
Germany,” says Kreuziger. “Taxes are high
and approvals are difficult.”
The Hoechst veteran points out that corporate
taxes, which have been reduced, are still higher
than in some other countries, but allowances for
accelerated depreciation can cut down the tax bill.
Approval processes have also been speeded up, and
new tenants benefit from Infraserv’s existing
ties to the appropriate agencies.
Scaling up
Once in the park, companies can further benefit
from the proprietary expertise the Hoechst spinoff
has developed in transferring ideas into large-scale
production. “We are providing infrastructure
and expertise for a successful scaling up,”
says Kreuziger.
Most of the research conducted in the park is production-oriented,
he says. One whole quadrant of the park, the southeast,
has been designated for research and development
in a master plan developed by Frankfurt architects
Albert Speer & Partner.
Administration will be centered in the northeast
quadrant and the centerpiece for that will be a
new ensemble of buildings crowned by a 30-story
tower designed to harmonize with the Behrens building
and the smokestack profile of the historical plant.
The new ensemble, scheduled for completion in 2012,
will cost 74 million euros.
Infraserv, which itself employs almost 4,000 people,
offers a variety of services to tenants, from its
state-of-the-art wastewater treatment to supplying
energy and 250 raw ingredients for the manufacture
of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. It has a complete
logistics division, technical services and even
organizes training for tenant companies.
While Infraserv’s main task is to manage and
develop the industrial park, the company sells its
services to external clients as well. It is a major
supplier of purified water and it is in charge of
the planning for the Frankfurt Innovation Center
for Biotechnology, a project in northwest Frankfurt
(see accompanying story).
Hoechst has worked as a factory site since 1863
– and seems likely to continue that tradition
in its new form. As Kreuziger says: “We combine
technical know-how with sustainable ideas.”
For more information, see www.infraserv.com
|
