Existing building, Blandonnet, 2009: HSBC will move into new building

Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve, Fre) – HSBC will regroup its 12 Geneva offices in 2010, reports the Tribune, moving them to the relatively new Blandonnet International Business Centrer where a third building is nearing completion.

The company’s move will bring the number of people working in the centre to 4,500.

Blandonnet  today appears to be one of Geneva’s crowning glories, in the business world: home to several multinationals such as IBM and Martini-Bacardi and the Global Fund as well as large Swiss groups such as TCS (Touring Club Suisse) and soon, the head office of L’Oreal Switzerland. Its location is a strong point in its favour: easy access to the airport and the city centre. A four-star hotel is scheduled to be built in the fourth and final stage of creating the centre, owned by ABD Ohayon and his company RI Realim.

When it was started in the early 1990s the project was far from a guaranteed success, however, with few buyers for the 30,000 ha tract of low land surrounded by the then-new link road around Geneva and the city’s tanks. Today the centre sits in a built-up industrial zone and public transport has improved, putting the train station, for example, only seven minutes away by tram. The elegant architecture is based on a concept by Foster and Partners.

Related: detailed article on the centre in ArchitectureConstruction (pdf)

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