On 3 March 2009, under construction Cologne metro tunnel collapsed, killing 2 people. Irreplaceable Cologne City archives were buried in mud. Now after 11 years, the contractors of the tunnel construction and the City of Cologne have reached an out-of-court settlement.

According to the agreement, the contractors will pay €600 million to the city. The money will be used for a new City archives building. In addition, every year €12 million will be spent for the restoration of the archives for many years to come.

In 2018, a Cologne District Court ruled that the City archives had collapsed due to a serious error in the construction of the subway station below the building. The contractors were Ed. Züblin A.G. (a STRABAG subsidiary), Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau, a subsidiary of Netherlands' Royal BAM Group N.V., and Bilfinger SE.