In a decisive move forward on the road to a new building in Rijswijk, the European Patent Office (EPO) today signed the contract with the winning consortium of four companies belonging to the Group TBI at the EPO's headquarters in Munich. The contract paves the way for next steps, which include finalising the design of the building and surrounding landscaping. Construction works are expected to begin in the second half of 2014.
"Only two months after the basic decision taken by the Administrative Council, the contract which will allow work to start has been concluded" said EPO President Beno?t Battistelli "This brings the realitiy of the Office's new home in the Netherlands an important step closer."
The EPO announced in June that a consortium of four companies belonging to the Group TBI, one of the largest construction, mechanical and electrical services companies in the Netherlands, had won the international competition to design and construct the EPO's new building in The Hague in co-operation with two leading architectural firms, namely Ateliers Jean Nouvel (Paris) and Dam & Partners Architecten (Amsterdam). The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation, which is made up of the delegates of the Organisation's 38 member states, endorsed the recommendation made by an international jury for the tender procedure at its June meeting.
With its gross floor area of over 80 000 sq metres to house approximately 1 750 staff members, this will be one of the largest construction projects of its kind in the Netherlands today.
With roughly 4 000 staff at its headquarters in Munich and 3 000 in The Hague, the EPO is the largest international organisation in the Netherlands and the second largest in Europe. It also has smaller offices in Berlin, Vienna and Brussels.
(Source: EPO)
