Around 600 employees of the Swiss Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) will be able to move into the new seven-story building in Ittigen in the canton of Bern later this month.
According to a press release, the hybrid timber-concrete building, which was designed by the Zurich-based architect firm Berrel Berrel Kräutler, is certified according to the Swiss Sustainable Building Standard (SNBS) and relies on locally produced resources. For example, waste heat from a nearby data center is used to heat the building, while spring water is used for cooling. The zero-emissions project, which was originally called “Fitzcarraldo”, uses 100 percent renewable energy.
The federal administration center on the UVEK campus has housed various offices of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications since 2006. The new building accommodates the space requirements that have increased since then and brings together different departments that had previously been scattered around the campus. “This will simplify collaboration, improve team spirit and help to speed up processes,” said FEDRO director Jürg Röthlisberger.
