St. Louis is not just my hometown—it's also home to our new Clayco office!
As featured in Newsweek, we have moved 580 of our St. Louis-based team members to our newly renovated 233,000-square-foot headquarters in Berkeley, Missouri. This world-class facility is named the Russell Burns Building after my great friend and our long-standing CEO, Russ Burns, whose leadership and friendship have left an indelible mark not just on Clayco but on me personally. Located in the NorthPark Development, our HQ will house various design-build functions, including operations, leadership, architecture, process engineering, safety, IT, marketing, finance, and talent management.
As our Clayco family continues to grow, we anticipate adding at least 400 additional team members in the next few years. Centralizing our Missouri offices is an essential step in welcoming those fresh faces and solidifying our long-term dedication to the state and local community. To ensure that people enjoy our new home, we are also designing the space with amazing amenities and a dynamic layout that will empower collaboration and promote physical and mental well-being.
Lamar Johnson Collaborative did an excellent job designing our space to meet the needs of those of us who will enjoy it while positively affecting our surrounding environment. The creative visionary, Kiku Obata, also leads the design of the graphics package, art placement, and selection of terrific artwork for the building. Her work, which blends a deep understanding of design, strategy, and storytelling, will create experiences that are unique and meaningful.
It’s a beautiful building with many trees, atriums, and glass walls to let in sunlight. The building’s artwork, including artist Jedd Novatt’s Chaos Continuum 2024 piece, which stands outside of our building as a message of strength, creativity, and adaptability, promotes the Art & Science of Building and a healthy balance for our team. We achieved an 11% increase in natural daylight availability, and this, paired with various other health attributes, aims to increase well-being.
Our new HQ is also eco-conscious! Choosing to renovate an existing building rather than construct a new one will cut carbon emissions equivalent to those coming from 1,370 cars annually for the building’s lifetime. The landscape design incorporates 100% native plant species that highlight the importance of our water-efficient site design. We are working to limit our environmental impact with sustainable materials, construction/demolition waste recycling, and creating green spaces to boost carbon sequestration and water quality. We also increased the green area to 162,000 square feet in order to improve groundwater recharge and air quality, along with creating communal green spaces.
No matter the project or location, our team aims to make communities better than how we found them. Some of our Clayco team even joined local volunteers to plant almost 1,000 trees on our new campus and around Berkeley! Leaders must find the balance between functional workspaces and environmental care, paving the way for a future where eco-friendliness and workplace efficiency go hand in hand. I can’t wait to see how this office will help us tap into a broader talent pool to foster innovation at Clayco and beyond.
Let’s keep evolving to reach new levels of success!
