ESPG AG extends lease with Ennepe-Ruhr district at The Fourty-Five in Hattingen by 15 years, enabling the implementation of a ‚New Ways of Working‘ concept

ESPG AG extends lease with Ennepe-Ruhr district at The Fourty-Five in Hattingen by 15 years, enabling the implementation of a 'New Ways of Wokring' concept

Cologne, 18 December 2025 – The European Science Park Group (ESPG), a real estate company specialising in science parks, has achieved another significant leasing success: the EN Job Centre of the Ennepe-Ruhr district will remain at The Fourty-Five Science Park in Hattingen for the long term, extending its lease by 15 years.

The new lease agreement provides for a higher rent per square metre and covers an area of around 1,445 square metres across two floors of the building, representing approximately 20% of the science park’s total lettable space. As part of the extension, the Jobcentre’s leased premises will be comprehensively modernised, enabling the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis to implement its “New Ways of Working” concept in parallel.

This comprehensive upgrade marks another step in ESPG’s successful repositioning of the building, into which substantial investment has already been made. Measures implemented to date include full insulation of the façade, replacement of the windows, and a complete renewal of various technical systems, such as the heating.

The Jobcenter EN serves as the central point of contact for recipients of Bürgergeld in the Ennepe-Ruhr district. Its employees are responsible for determining the type and scope of benefits, while also supporting individuals in accessing training, retraining and qualification programmes or placing them directly into employment. The Hattingen branch is one of three regional offices across the district. Together with the locations in Schwelm and Witten/Wetter/Herdecke, it provides essential services to local residents.

Dirk Farchmin, head of the department responsible for the EN Job Centre at the district administration in Schwelm, emphasises the advantages of continued cooperation: "In the past, the location has already provided us with suitable conditions for offering services to the citizens of the Ennepe-Ruhr district efficiently and in a citizen-oriented manner. With the modernisation, these will now improve considerably – it will become more attractive and modern. With regard to the new workplace concept, this also applies explicitly to our employees."

Markus Drews, CEO of ESPG AG: "We are very pleased to be continuing our long-standing partnership with the Ennepe-Ruhr district. The lease agreement once again underlines the confidence in the quality and future viability of our location. With the upcoming renovation, we are creating modern, efficient spaces that meet the requirements of a future-oriented job centre and are one step closer to our goal of completely repositioning the building. Our extensive investments in this and our other buildings are also attracting other prospective tenants, and we are confident that we will be able to announce further leasing successes in the near future."


About ESPG
The European Science Park Group (ESPG) is a real estate company specialising in science parks. The company focuses on the development of science parks, predominantly characterised by tenants from future-oriented sectors such as life sciences, green technologies or digital transformation, which benefit from their proximity to each other and their direct proximity to universities, hospitals or researchPress release locations. ESPG's portfolio already comprises 16 science parks across Europe with a total area of 126,000 square metres. The sites are generally located outside metropolises, in areas that are considered science clusters or have a high concentration of innovative companies.

Press contact
Jan Hutterer
T +49 40 60 91 86 83
M +49 172 3462831
espg@kirchhoff.de