The Darmstadt chemical, pharmaceutical and technology company Merck is investing around 70 million euros in the construction of a new training center in the science city.

According to the information, all training units of the listed company should find space there, with all in all up to 600 trainees and their trainers.

The cube-shaped house with seven floors and 14,000 square meters of floor space should be ready for occupancy in two years.

Merck acquired land at Knell in Darmstadt for the new building.

Up until the middle of 2000, Deutsche Bahn operated a large repair shop for wheel sets there on Frankfurter Strasse.

Jochen Remert

Airport editor and correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

  • Follow I follow

According to the plans, the training cube should not only serve to optimally design the entry into the various professions in the laboratory in production technology and in the commercial area.

In the new "Learning Center" further training in the company should also have one of its central locations.

"With the new Learning Center, Merck is setting standards for the future," says site manager Matthias Bürk.

“The building is to become a flagship in order to continue to make our company attractive to young and motivated talent.

It underlines our claim as a science and technology company.

At the same time, with this new building we are making a commitment to the Darmstadt location.” With the new training center, the company also sees itself well equipped to prevent a shortage of skilled workers.

Energy consumption reduced by 60 percent

As the listed company further states, the center will be constructed using sustainable methods.

According to the information, the energy requirement is covered by a mix of photovoltaic, geothermal and heat pump technology.

In order to minimize the energy requirement, a special design is planned and the roof will be planted.

All in all, the new building should have around 60 percent less energy consumption than conventional construction methods and thus release significantly lower amounts of CO2.

In addition, recyclable and solvent-free building materials are used, which are also sourced locally whenever possible.

The company, which was founded in 1668 and is still majority owned by the founding family, generated sales of 19.7 billion euros in 66 countries in the past financial year.

Merck primarily develops, produces and markets medicines and products for the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.

But the company is also working in its Innovations Hub, for example, on the production of cultured meat for which no animal has to die and which also does not pollute the climate because this "clean meat" comes from the bioreactor.

Around 6,000 men and women work for Merck worldwide, more than 12,000 of them in Germany, the vast majority of them in turn at the headquarters in Darmstadt.