Le Grand Charles
Soprema headquarters in Strasbourg, France: an innovative project.
Introducing 'Le Grand Charles'
The Soprema headquarters in Strasbourg, France, is called Le Grand Charles. The building is named after Charles Geisen, founder of Soprema and great-grandfather of our current CEO, Pierre-Étienne Bindschedler.
Featuring state-of-the-art design and Soprema’s sustainable solutions such as a blue, green, and solar functional roofs, terraces filled with plants and a geothermal heat pump, Le Grand Charles showcases our extensive knowledge and expertise in sustainable construction, while minimising our environmental footprint. The building provides an innovative work environment and aims to improve our employees’ wellbeing and job satisfaction.
Le Grand Charles in 4 colours
Le Grand Charles building is Soprema's stand for innovation and sustainability. The building's colours blue, yellow, green, and red - represent the innovative and sustainable roof solutions, which have been carefully designed and implemented in Le Grand Charles to reflect our vision.
Blue - representing blue roof
The blue roof boosts biodiversity as well as allows for rainwater harvesting. It significantly reduces the risk of flooding and takes a lot of strain off the sewer and drainage systems. Moreover, the rainwater stored can be used later on, for example during long periods of drought. For blue roof applications like this, Soprema designed a thin but pressure-resistant roofing system that will last for decades.
Yellow - representing solar roof
Soprema invests heavily in renewable, local energy sources that do not pollute the air or soil. This is why one of the roofs was dedicated to solar energy, featuring 83 solar panels. Thanks to our robust multi-layer waterproofing system with high puncture resistance and excellent load bearing capacities, the solar roof will last at least 30 years.
Green - representing green roof
We transformed Le Grand Charles’ office patios into green roofs to encourage vegetation growth, promote biodiversity and to reduce the urban heat island effect. We filled more than 400 square metres with greenery, reinforcing the roof structure with a two-layer, root-resistant bituminous waterproofing system.
Red - representing recreational roof
For Soprema, our employee wellbeing is one of our top priorities. Therefore, we have decided to dedicate one of the roofs in the Le Grand Charles completely to our employees and design recreational areas on the “red” roof. Our employees can enjoy the specially designed padel and squash courts, a football pitch, a hammam and a gym.
Le Grand Charles in numbers
6000 m² of space
for our 270 colleagues
400 m²
of nature
12.170
plants and bushes
17 green
office terraces
400 m² of
sports facilities
100 m² of
bicycle parking
Putting people first
Our human capital is our most important resource. That’s why Le Grand Charles wants to inspire people and help them relax while fostering a motivational and stimulating environment for the colleagues to thrive.
Positive impact on the environment
Our headquarters are a laboratory where innovative ideas are born for sustainable construction, for implementing renewable energy sources and improving biodiversity.
"Le Grand Charles shows our employees and partners what we have achieved together. We have them to thank for everything. But the building also symbolises our ambitions. It’s a place of personal development where we prepare Soprema for further growth and for future challenges."
Pierre-Étienne Bindschedler, CEO SOPREMA
SOPREMA's commitments
Focus op people
Le Grand Charles aims to be a benchmark for workplace quality and comfort.
Our 270 employees have plenty of room for personal and professional growth. Measuring 6,000 m2, the office contains a 700 m2 restaurant that seats 300 people, and offers plenty of opportunities for recreation, sports and relaxation.
Circular economy
We team up with local suppliers and partners whenever possible.
Soprema participates in the CLES project. We aim to find a sustainable (low-impact) and responsible purpose for the empty building plots at Port du Rhin, teaming up with local construction companies, and looking for circular solutions together with the community. We always try to make new buildings blend in harmoniously with their surroundings.
Building for the future
Our headquarters has an impressive environmental performance.
A powerful geothermal heat pump takes care of all heating and air conditioning needs at Le Grand Charles. We collect rainwater for domestic use, while outdoor areas with water features, trees, and green roofs boost biodiversity.
A 10,000 year old mammouth
At Soprema, we like to prepare for and shape the future, yet we have a rich history to look back on, too. That history is symbolised by the 10,000-year-old mammouth (also called Le Grand Charles) on display in our headquarters. Just like our sustainability ambitions, our mammouth is anything but small. 10 feet tall, the skeleton (which is 80% original) has two tusks measuring more than 9 feet in length each. Combined, the tusks weigh around 353 pounds.
Le Grand Charles architecture reflects SOPREMA's ambitions
Continuing to grow without harming the environment: that is the challenge modern companies face today. We fully support a circular and green future, and this vision is reflected in the architecture of Le Grand Charles. By incorporating functional roofs and terraces, we return as much of the space we occupy to nature as possible.
Everyone who walks into our office sees right away what SOPREMA stands for, which solutions we can provide and where our expertise lies. Le Grand Charles is a nod to our past, but also a look to the future. It simultaneously showcases the know-how and experience we have gathered over the past 115 years, and functions as our business card and reference case for new projects.