Hamburg Chamber of Commerce

You may have read recently that in April more Germans accessed Second Life than Americans. I have already noted on many occasions the number of Dutch builds in progress - and I have been particularly intrigued by the arrival of Dutch towns, such as Zoetermeer of Koolhoven. Well, not to be outdone by the Dutch, the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce has decided that German towns also need representation in Second Life and have acquired an island. It is being constructed by German build company Metaboys - a new-looking 4-man team from Hamburg.

To quote liberally from the notecard I picked up:

• Hamburg Chamber of Commerce is one of Europe's oldest chambers of commerce, with a wealth of experience in international relations, commercial know-how, and democratic culture. And one of the youngest and most dynamic in terms of commitment for its members. It is the voice for the Hamburg business community and a partner, facilitator and representative for some 139,000 companies, that is a total workforce of about 849,000 people... [It] is the first chamber worldwide in Second Life.

Although the build remains at an early stage it is apparent that the island is divided into 2 principal areas - the Chamber of Commerce and the "Hamburg @ Work" initiative., which seemingly aims to bring together media, IT and telecommunications companies - although to what end remains something of a mystery to me.

Anyway... here's some piccies of progress to date:

Incidentally, this seems to be another of those sites that has been officially launched, even though it is a long way from completion. Why do people do that?