New head office for GL
During the past three weeks, the Hamburg staff of Germanischer Lloyd (GL), numbering more than 1,600, has moved to the new head office at Brooktorkai 18 in Hamburg's HafenCity district. With this relocation, the company is bringing 14 separate sites in Hamburg together all under the same roof.
At its new head office, the globally active technical assurance and consulting company and ship classification society will concentrate and focus on its business segments Maritime Services, Oil & Gas and Renewables. From its head office, GL directs a worldwide network of currently 6,800 engineers and experts in over 80 countries.
The new GL head office spans two construction sites offering an office space of 45,000 m² and was designed by the architectural offices gmp and Jan Störmer.
Following a planning and construction phase lasting several years, a new chapter is being written in the annals of GL. In particular, the relocation symbolizes the bringing together of the three business segments. The new premises offer a bright and airy office landscape with a fine view of the Elbe river and the Speicherstadt warehouse district. The modern, sophisticated working environment permits a further optimization of the workflow and offers varied opportunities for enhanced interdisciplinary teamwork. As a result, the growing requirements of the worldwide GL clientele can be addressed in a more individual and flexible manner. This is all the more important in view of the fact that GL has greatly expanded its service portfolio through a large number of acquisitions over the past few years.
“We are delighted to have moved into our new international head office in the HafenCity right on schedule,” says Dr Joachim Segatz, member of the GL executive board. “In recent years, GL has evolved from a leading classification society into a globally recognized technical assurance and consultancy body for the maritime and energy industries. The modern architecture of the new location, its size and the communicative, open office landscapes meet the demands of this development in an ideal way.”
In the course of 2009 alone, the GL Group was augmented by the maritime advisory and software companies Friendship Consulting GmbH and Friendship Systems GmbH as well as the British inspection and consulting firms Noble Denton (oil & gas) and Garrad Hassan (renewables). In February 2010, GL Noble Denton was presented as the new oil and gas brand of GL.
GL’s new address: Brooktorkai 18, 20457 Hamburg, Germany. The telephone and fax numbers as well as e-mail addresses will remain the same.
