Roche says it will not go ahead with plans to redevelop its Basel headquarters site and construct Switzerland’s highest office tower block, SwissInfo reports.

The $450 million project had been scheduled for completion by 2011 and would have included two buildings designed by Swiss star architects Herzog & de Meuron. Now, the drugmaker says the planned 40-story building, which would have resembled a giant helix, could not fulfill its “significant functional requirements.” (The picture is actually an artist’s rendering).

The structure was originally intended to accommodate about 2,400 workplaces together with a new R&D center, which is to replace an old lab building. Instead, Roche is now looking at an alternative project that would bring around 1,700 employees currently spread around the city to its central site. [Our thought: perhaps Roche thought it best not to use the cash at a time when there are questions about the financing of its proposed takeover of Genentech].