Why Switzerland Relocates Historic Buildings Instead of Tearing Them Down

Switzerland has turned building relocation into a niche but proven industry, preferring to physically move historic structures rather than demolish them when they stand in the way of new infrastructure. Specialist firms — often small, family-run businesses in smaller Swiss towns — have built up decades of expertise moving churches, farmhouses and industrial landmarks onto rails and rollers instead of the wrecking ball.

The clearest demonstration is the MFO building in Zurich’s Oerlikon district, the former headquarters of the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon, a company that later grew into engineering giants like ABB. Built in 1889 and running 80 metres long, the brick structure stood in the path of two new platforms when Swiss Federal Railways planned an expansion of Zurich Oerlikon station in the early 2000s, putting it on course for demolition.

Local residents and heritage groups pushed back, and Zurich’s city government commissioned architecture firm Müller and Truniger to assess whether relocation was viable. The resulting feasibility study found moving the building to a site just outside the railway perimeter was both technically possible and economically reasonable — a conclusion that led the local government to fund the project and provide land. The relocation finally happened in 2012, after the building had occupied its original spot for 130 years.

The engineering required supporting the entire structure on temporary steel props while replacing its original foundation walls with new concrete beams, then installing steel rails and rollers so hydraulic presses could push it along a fixed track. The building travelled about 60 metres westward at just over a millimetre per second — a journey lasting 17 to 19 hours — before settling into its new foundation to within a few millimetres of accuracy.

With roughly 75,000 buildings across Switzerland holding formal historic protection status, relocation has increasingly become a practical alternative to redesigning entire road or rail projects around a single structure, letting cities preserve local landmarks while still accommodating modern development.