Approximately 500,000 pounds of steel have been added to three Agilent Technologies buildings located at 1400 Fountaingrove Parkway in Santa Rosa.Project Viva was a comprehensive seismic/structural retrofit and refurbishing to improve building safety and dramatically reduce the probability of business disruption in the event of an earthquake. The project also upgraded plant infrastructure and the overall attractiveness of the campus for 1,100 employees at the site. At the same time, a number of operational improvements were made to enhance efficiency. This improvement project, completed at a cost of $50 million, was part of a companywide $250 million sites renovation initiative. While visitors might expect to see steel beam cross-bracing in a seismic retrofit project, only the interior redesign enhancements are visible. All new bracing and reinforcements are out of sight behind walls, hidden from even the most astute observer. “Some 1,000 employees had to be relocated from time to time during construction without impacting productivity or major inconvenience. In addition, we were also able to complete this project without contractor lost time or work-related injuries across 2,000 work days and without any project regulatory violations,” said Tony McCormick, U.S. Northwest sites manager for workplace services with Agilent Technologies. Approximately 300,000 square feet of interior building space was affected during the transition. Callison Architecture and architect Roland Lazzarotto were able to create 50,000 square feet of available space by consolidating functions and by moving a key laboratory to another building. At the end of the project, about 25,000 square feet of vacant space was made available for continued growth and flexibility while being absorbed into expanded common areas. A portion of the extra space was repurposed as an auditorium, an expanded main lobby and upper floor “village” centers (coffee break areas also suitable for informal meetings) by doubling the size of the on-site fitness center and by adding customer-facing amenities, such as a new marketing product demonstration center and conference rooms near the main visitor reception area. Agilent’s corporate commitment to the environment is evident in the installation of high-efficiency lighting systems saving 982 megawatt hours annually. Including improvements associated with HVAC upgrades, overall total energy reductions are estimated at 1,300 megawatt hours per year. Water conservation measures have been improved with the installation of new restroom fixtures that will save more than 500,000 gallons per year. Sustainable “xeriscape” minimal water use landscaping was also installed. At the same time, about 150,000 pounds of asbestos-contaminated material were also removed. During the upgrade Agilent was able to recycle 82 percent of the total construction debris. More than 100,000 pounds of old carpet was diverted to shredding/recycling facilities, where the material will be reused to make new carpet. Another 100,000 pounds of demolished landscape materials was reused on the site or substituted for new landscape products. Physical changes for the buildings include new centralized IT network closets in all buildings, clean-room upgrades, replacement of an obsolete constant-volume HVAC system with a digitally controlled variable volume system, modernization of the site security command center, a new public address system and a new site-wide fire alarm system. Additionally, new way-finding signage providing directions to the buildings was installed, and branding upgrades were achieved. The history of Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies (Agilent was part of HP until it became a separate company in 1999) is depicted in graphical timeline wall designs, product application charts adjacent to each major work area and other product-oriented graphics strategically positioned along a “follow the gray-carpet path” within main buildings, which comprises the tour route for customers, visitors and guests. Break areas were decorated using prize-winning photographs from the company’s ongoing “Agilent Eye” employee photo contest, and there is a display depicting various community activities conducted by employees and the company. Video monitors have been installed overhead in break areas providing company news, information and weather reports throughout the day. Two lobbies, refurbished and enlarged to accommodate multiple visitor waiting areas, were decorated with large paintings by local artists. Conference rooms were also upgraded to include advanced audio/visual and lighting systems. The company dining room was refurbished, and an additional restroom was added. In addition, fitness and wellness classrooms were expanded and upgraded. “Our employees were real troopers throughout the series of work group moves. They learned to use ear plugs to mitigate construction noise; accommodated changes to exits, entrances and parking lots; worked behind temporary walls; and took advantage of quiet construction-escape cubicles for conference calls. They also endured heating and air conditioner adjustments, temporary coffee station locations, used a different lobby from time to time to greet visitors and worked around the closure of conference rooms – all while remaining good-natured,” Mr. McCormick said. The interior layout of aisles and through-traffic routes was revised from a north-south and east-west orientation to include a perimeter thoroughfare against exterior window walls for those wishing to move quickly around departments and conference rooms. Staff meeting rooms and conference rooms have been disbursed within each large work area and are complete with redundant data access and power supplies so that they can also be used for training purposes – the site is now designated as a training center for Agilent’s Electronic Measurement business. “We wanted employees to participate and be involved in this upgrade project from the start. Twelve top performers were selected to serve on a Site Leadership Planning and Development Committee. This team met several times a month for seven months to review architectural designs and provide checks-and-balance input to the site master plan. The architects would come in with options A, B or C, and employees offered their preferences. Now that it is completed we can say with assurance that our master plan was almost completely consensus driven,” Mr. McCormick said. “We also held a series of weekly informal sessions in the cafeteria where employees could ask questions and get answers. Everyone came together to make this work.” ###
