Hartford Business Journal

12 Hartford Business Journal • June 10, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Boston architecture firm sees growth with new Hartford office Q&A talks with Carole Wedge, CEO of Shepley Bulfinch, a Boston-based architecture firm that recently opened a Hartford office. Q. Shepley Bulfinch has offices in Boston, Houston and Phoenix, and re- cently opened an office in downtown Hartford at 100 Allyn St. Why did you decide to enter the Hartford market? A. For over 45 years we have worked in the Connecticut and western Massa- chusetts region for numerous educa- tion, healthcare and developer clients and we decided to open an office in Hartford earlier this year because we had an opportunity to expand our talent base in the Northeast. A Connecticut office gives us the ability to serve our existing clients in new ways and pursue new clients and projects in the region. The firm currently has almost 200 employees, 12 of whom are in our Hartford office. We anticipate the Hartford office will continue to grow. Q. What projects has your firm al- ready worked on in Connecticut? A. Throughout the firm's long history Shepley Bulfinch has done projects in Connecticut starting with Hartford's Union Station in 1889. For the last 35 years we've worked with Yale New Ha- ven Health on a wide range of projects throughout the state, from the re- cently completed McGivney Advanced Surgery Center and the Smilow Cancer Center in New Haven to the Park Av- enue Medical Center in Trumbull. We're currently working on the design of the recently announced Neurosci- ence Center, which will be built on the St. Raphael campus. We've just begun work with Community Mental Health Affiliates in New Britain, and prior to joining Shepley Bulfinch, our Hartford- based team worked for Pomfret School, Trinity College and Hartford HealthCare Cancer Center, among others. We see the biggest growth op- portunities in health care. There are a number of world-class healthcare systems across Connecticut that are competing with both the Boston and New York City hospitals. Q. The construction and building indus- try in Connecticut hasn't been as robust as in other parts of the country. Why expand to Hartford? A. An office in Hartford affords us ac- cess to a strong pool of design talent in the region. Many of our team members work on projects all over the country, and it's entirely possible that people in Hartford could be working on projects in Connecticut or across the country. The cost of living in Hartford is well known to be more affordable than the Boston area, and we wouldn't be sur- prised if some of our Boston staff become interested in relocating to the Hartford area, or currently live far enough west of Boston that the Hartford office turns out to be an easier commute. Q. What are some of the latest design trends impacting healthcare facilities? What about office buildings? Carole Wedge CEO, Shepley Bulfinch By Joe Cooper jcooper@hartfordbusiness.com T aking a page out of Silicon Valley's playbook, a growing number of Connecticut employers are relying on new innovative office designs to promote a more collaborative workplace experience for staff. The idea of trading traditional cu- bicles for community gathering spaces and open floor plans has become an important tool for companies looking to retain staff, recruit new hires and maxi- mize the amount of people who can be housed in an office, design experts say. The trend was underscored by real estate promoter CREW CT, which re- cently highlighted the best real estate projects completed in 2018. The honorees, almost all featuring new collaborative spaces, an abun- dance of natural light and integrated technology, offer a glimpse into the future of office design and highlight the evolving desires of employers to rethink how they use their space. Terri L. Frink, principal at Glaston- bury architectural firm The SLAM Collaborative, is one planner who knows how to bring these increasingly common office-space designs to life. She led a design team that recently helped Hartford wealth-advisor Virtus Investment Partners overhaul its new- ly minted four-floor corporate head- quarters in downtown's Gold Building, which offers 360-degree skyline views of the region and Connecticut River. The new office, which houses 200-plus Virtus employees, earned CREW CT's best-in-class commercial design. The cost of the renovation project was not disclosed. Frink's team toured and studied numerous Hartford office designs long before blueprints for Virtus' new space were finalized and a six-month construction overhaul began last July. However, SLAM wasn't searching for inspiration during its research phase, it was looking for what hadn't been done in the Hartford market, Frink said. "Our goal as a design team was to be able to deliver something unique in the local marketplace to Virtus," Frink said. "The Virtus headquarters has be- come a new paradigm for workspaces designed by SLAM." SLAM proposed several new col- laborative areas including "huddle" rooms and a cafe, which the company's previous offices at 100 Pearl Street downtown didn't have. Creating more natural light in the space proved a challenge because Virtus still dedicates half of its offices for private use. So, SLAM installed clear glass fronts on all private offices Breaking Barriers CT employers fueling office culture through new community spaces Wealth-advisor Virtus Investment Partners has sweeping skyline views of Hartford and the Connecticut River at its newly minted offices in downtown's Gold Building. PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED FOCUS

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