October 31, 2024
Groundbreaking ceremony for new building to house international research institute held at the Switzerland Innovation Park in Allschwil.
The foundation stone for the construction of the ‘ALL’ building was laid today, marking the third collaboration between investor Senn and architects Herzog & de Meuron on the Main Campus of the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area in Allschwil. The anchor tenant of the new building will be the international research organization Botnar Institute for Immune Engineering (BIIE).
Domenico Scala, President of Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area, Stephen Wilson, CEO of BIIE, and Johannes Eisenhut, Managing Director of Senn Development AG, launched the construction of the ALL building on the Main Campus in Allschwil with the official laying of the foundation stone. As part of the laying of the foundation stone, a time capsule was concreted into the foundation of the building. Representatives of the regional economy and political bodies as well as schoolchildren from the Swiss International School located on the Main Campus placed their wishes for the future into the capsule.
After Main Campus HQ and Hortus, the new ALL building is the third Main Campus collaboration between the investor and real estate developer Senn and the Basel-based architects Herzog & de Meuron. It will span 20,500 square meters in area and meet the platinum standard for sustainable construction in Switzerland (SNBS).
"This is an important step for the Main Campus of the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area. With the BIIE, a leading research institution will become part of the most important life sciences cluster in Europe, further strengthening Basel as a research location. The exchange of knowledge on the Main Campus is the focus of our work and having the BIIE on board is a great advantage"
Domenico Scala, President of Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area
The Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area is part of the national Switzerland Innovation organization and has three locations: Allschwil, Jura and Novartis Campus in Basel. Its focus is on the areas of biotechnology, medical technology, digital health, health technology and industrial transformation. The innovation park offers state-of-the-art infrastructure and a wide range of services. The largest Swiss innovation Park focused on life sciences will be built on the Main Campus in Allschwil by 2028. Around 1,200 people currently work in 92 companies and 12 research groups in the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area, which is operated by Basel Area Business & Innovation.
"During the development of ALL, we used all the knowledge gained from the construction of the two previous buildings: Main Campus HQ and HORTUS. This knowledge will now be very helpful to us. ALL focuses on sustainability and promoting collaboration across the entire campus"
Johannes Eisenhut, Managing Director of Senn Development AG
As a family business, Senn has been active in the development, planning and realization of real estate since 1965. Their core competence is to develop land and real estate sustainably and substantially out of love for the location through a consistent user experience and to realize it economically with sophisticated architecture.
"We were looking for a location for our institute that fully meets the high standards of the world's best researchers in the field of immune engineering. The Main Campus of the Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area is located in one of the best life sciences ecosystems in Europe and proved to be the best location globally for us"
Stephen Wilson, CEO of BIIE
The Botnar Institute of Immune Engineering (BIIE) is dedicated to advancing the health of children and adolescents worldwide. By harnessing the potential of immune engineering, it aims to improve the lives of children and adolescents around the world and drive innovations that promise a healthier future. The BIIE is supported and supervised by the Immune Engineering for Global Child and Adolescent Health Foundation — a non-profit foundation under Swiss law, supervised by the Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations. The Board of Trustees oversees the BIIE’s management, which operates the independent research institute.
The Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area in Allschwil in the canton of Basel-Landschaft is set to be expanded from 50,000 square meters to 115,000 square meters by 2028.
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