ArcelorMittal is to temporarily close its offices in Avenue de la Liberté in 2013 to reduce costs.

In a statement released on Friday, the steel giant which has its head quarters in Luxembourg, said that the industry had been in crisis mode since 2008.

“Due to ongoing weakness in the European market we are reviewing our cost base, this includes also reducing fixed costs,” it said, adding: “Thus ArcelorMittal has decided to temporarily close its office building at Avenue de la Liberté in 2013.”

ArcelorMittal said that it was looking to make savings at production sites as well as in general services and administration. It said that corporate administration in Luxembourg was leading by example with the current measure. The building reportedly consumes large amounts of energy and incurs high maintenance costs.

The steel firm mainly uses the site for seminars, however, because of travel restrictions these seminars are increasingly being replaced with web based training. “Hence the building would be heavily underutilized while at the same time there is office space available in other buildings,” it said.

The 200 employees who are currently working in the building at Avenue de la Liberté will be transferred to other ArcelorMittal office buildings either in Luxembourg-City or Esch-sur-Alzette. A potential sale of the building at Avenue de la Liberté is currently not under discussion.