Skip to main content

Project uptown Basel taking shape

| News

Project uptown Basel taking shape

11.06.2019

A competence center for Industry 4.0 is being created on the former site of ABB. Private investors have contributed around half a million Swiss francs to the project. The foundation stone has now been officially laid.

Model of the Competence Center for Industry 4.0 (img. Fankhauser Arealentwicklungen)

The Schorenareal extends over an area of 70,000m2 and lies between the motorway and railway line, just a few hundred meters from Münchenstein station. For decades, it was home to manufacturing by ABB’s predecessor BBC. In 2016, the canton sold the site to Basel lawyer and investor Thomas Staehelin, President of the Chamber of Commerce of the two Basel cantons at the time. With uptown Basel AG, it is establishing a competence center for Industry 4.0. Construction began in March, with the foundation stone for phase one officially laid last Friday. The first building will offer lettable space of 25,000m2 over five floors, of which 70 percent has already leased, as site developer Hans-Jörg Fankhauser revealed in an article by the Basler Zeitung newspaper.

Around 500 million francs is being invested in the development by uptown Basel AG, which is expected to create approximately 2,000 jobs. With Axians and Bouygues, two major European technology companies are confirmed as moving to uptown. Cumulatively, they intend to offer 400 jobs at this site.

The economic director of Basel-Land Thomas Weber speaks of a renaissance for industry in the canton. “A quantum leap has been achieved with Staehelin’s project” he says in the newspaper article. “The historic potential of the site has been perfectly transformed for the future.”

The first building will be completed at the end of 2021. A further 10,000m2 of lettable space will follow down the line.

Share this article

Sign up to receive our newsletter in your inbox.

You might also be interested in

The power of a persuasive pitch deck

Are you an entrepreneur striving to secure investment for your biotech startup? Start with an effective pitch deck to catch...
Read More

Roche investing an additional 1.2 billion Swiss francs in Basel

Roche will be putting an additional 1.2 billion Swiss francs towards the renovation of its site in Basel. This investment...
Read More

Nouscom secures 67.5 million euros in financing

Biotech company Nouscom has raised 67.5 million euros in a series C financing round. The Basel-based firm intends to use...
Read More

Celebrating six months of innovation: i4Challenge accelerator New Ideas 2022/2023

On the 5th of July 2023, the 3rd iteration of the i4Challenge accelerator program New Ideas came to its conclusion....
Read More

How open innovation in healthtech hubs is fueling the rise of digital healthcare

How the ever-increasing uptake of digital solutions is enhancing patient engagement, increasing access to care and lowering the cost of...
Read More

How to access the U.S. market with your medical device

In one of our latest Venture Mentoring events by Basel Are Business & Innovation, we invited Nila-Pia Rähle to speak...
Read More

Do you have a question? We'd like to hear from you.