Bentley plans to start construction of 2nd office building

The manufacturer of minimally-invasive vascular prostheses is planning to expand its Hechingen site

By the end of 2026, Bentley plans to create 200 new jobs worldwide, most of them in Hechingen, Germany. This will double the company’s current workforce. The construction plans look impressive and are well thought out – Bentley is aiming high. After all, creating jobs for so many people requires space. Company founder and building owner Lars Sunnanväder is planning to put up a five-story building for his young, successful company. Bentley has only been around for 12 years, yet its products are already available in 80 countries worldwide – in some of them Bentley already became the market leader.

The company develops, manufactures and markets implants for the treatment of vascular diseases. These are, for example, stents covered with an ePTFE/Teflon tube that permanently widen constricted blood vessels or reliably cover weak points in the vessel wall. However, approvals that are essential for all medical devices are still missing for two of the most important markets: the USA and China. But these approvals are already in the pipeline, which is why Bentley needs to hire so many new employees. Managing Director Sebastian Büchert: “Although we’ve already created additional office space in our production hall, we’re just about to run out of room again. We’ve therefore rented additional office space in the building of a neighbouring company and set up office containers as well to accommodate all employees. But even these measures can only temporarily cover our continuously increasing space requirements.”

The basic principle for the new building, which will be built on the company’s previous parking lot, is ‘high is better than wide’. The plan is to build high, as further utilisation of green areas for flat new buildings would not be in keeping with the spirit of the times. The ground floor will house the finished goods warehouse, from where the products will be shipped all over the world. The upper levels will have a spacious canteen and three floors of offices for administration, regulatory affairs, marketing and sales. A suspended glass walkway will connect the old and new building. In addition, a photovoltaic system will be installed on the roof of the new building.

To ensure that the completion will be finished as planned in the second quarter of 2023, Bentley was approaching the city’s political bodies. There Managing Director Sebastian Büchert explained why Bentley is so keen to expand at the existing site. “For a medical technology company, a change of address is not a minor inconvenience of just ordering new stationery or business cards. In some countries we would have to go through parts of the approval process again, and Bentley would be unable to sell products in those countries for a year or two. Needless to say, this is a situation we want to avoid.”

Since private transport cannot be fully avoided in rural areas, the parking spaces eliminated by the new construction must be replaced. To this end, the medical technology manufacturer has acquired a neighbouring plot of land and, after demolishing the hall on it, will build a five-storey car park. This plan has already been put to the community. Charging stations for electric cars are also planned for the new car park. Completion of the 370 parking spaces is scheduled for the second quarter of 2022. Bentley is thus well equipped for further positive development – even beyond 2026.

Contact: Kerstin Stotz, Communication & Event Coordinator, +49 7471 984 995 59, k.stotz@bentley.global