(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s Bundesbank abandoned plans to add new office buildings to its Frankfurt headquarters as employees avail of its policy to work from home.

Instead, the bank will focus on renovating its main building and other existing office spaces in the city, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Bundesbank’s decision to redraw its plans, adopted before the pandemic, reflects the wider slump in commercial real estate as increased materials and financing costs hamper construction activities and remote working trends reduce the need for more physical work spaces.

“The strategic realignment is based on our employee-friendly remote working rules and new office occupancy principles,” Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said in the statement. Since mid-2023, Bundesbank staff are entitled to work remotely for up to 60% of their working hours. 

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