The No. 1 Large American City of the Future will get a workplace of the future.
Last week, just days after Pittsburgh achieved the aforementioned ranking by business globalization magazine foreign direct investment (fDi), chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer Corp. announced it will spend $17 million on energy efficiency upgrades and to create a futuristic space that boosts employee collaboration.
These represent more growth and accolade-based headlines in a string of good news for Pittsburgh, which was also ranked third in the foreign direct investment strategy category and 10th for economic potential and human resources according to fDi.
Bayer’s improvements will focus on two buildings that house its largest number of employees – about 825 of the 1,500 employees at the suburban Robinson Township campus. The renovations will also utilize Bayer MaterialScience products in the design, including polycarbonate materials in LED fixtures’ lenses and polyurethane “liquid-solid” Technogel for ergonomic comfort.
The renovated buildings will boast open-area workspaces to boost employee collaboration and sustainability.
“Innovation is part of Bayer’s DNA, and we want our North American headquarters to reflect that,” says Bayer MaterialScience chief administrative officer Bob Kumpf in a news release.
Bayer is pursuing LEED-CI (Commercial Interior) gold-level certification for the project. Renovations are expected to be completed by June, 2013.
Joe Petrucci is managing editor of Keystone Edge. Send feedback here.