Dacon and Hilb Collaborate on New England Regional Headquarters
by Lauren Nowicki
As employees begin to migrate back to offices part-time, the focus on employee comfort and occupant health remains paramount. Ensuring productivity and maintaining social responsibility necessitates not only intuitive space types but sustainability.
Hilb Group, an insurance broker with more than 30 specialties across employee benefits and commercial and personal needs, faced this design challenge when creating its New England regional headquarters for 130 employees. The firm is present in 20 states across the Northeast, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Central U.S. Entrepreneurial in approach but traditional in fostering close relationships, Hilb’s unique business model acquires top local brokers to deliver customized services supported by the diverse resources of a large broker.
This 25,000sf headquarters is Dacon’s third project this year at Chapel View, a mixed-use restaurant, retail and luxury residential development created by the Carpionato Group. The design goal was to create a space that reflected Hilb’s progressive, high-performance culture by enforcing corporate brand identity and creating a driving sense of purposefulness that empowers employees and clients into action.
Consisting of two floors, the layout includes an open office work environment, entrance lobby, conference space, training room, restroom and cafe. Interior design trends incorporated entail statement pieces to convey sophistication, contemporary lifestyles, materials that minimize environmental impact and cool tones. A strong emphasis was placed on utilizing design elements from pre-and post-recycled content. This entailed LightArt Acoustic Echo light fixtures crafted from felt which act as sculptural forms of radiating stars while simultaneously absorbing sound.
Additionally, conscious consumption was exercised in flooring and furniture selections. Durable and easy to clean, Patcraft’s Mark Making – tile created using a graphic technique similar to watercolors that results in a pattern/tonal texture similar to rug – provides the same look, warmth and buoyancy as carpet. Working with the supplier, CREATIVE, furniture pieces with pre- and post-recycled content as high as 65% were used.
Comments Kevin Quinn, Dacon’s CEO, “With their high-performance culture, Hilb knows how to offer its clients more in expertise, attention and market intelligence. We are delighted to have created an office design that reflects these attributes of success while exercising a sensitivity towards conscious consumption.”
Lauren Nowicki is director of marketing at Dacon Corporation.
