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Set on top of a hill, seven stories tall, with a lighted stairwell and grand entrance to a commons area overlooking the Raccoon River valley, Aviva USA’s new headquarters promises to stand out on the edge of development in West Des Moines.

“It’s really kind of our statement that Aviva is here; we’re here for the long term,” said Christopher Littlefield, chief operating officer of Aviva USA. “The fact that we’re putting an investment of millions of dollars into a new facility is a real positive statement, we think, for the community.”

It will be one of the tallest buildings in West Des Moines, set on a 71-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Jordan Creek and Mills Civic parkways. The 360,000-square-foot headquarters will have enough office space for 1,500 employees in the seven-story tower and two-story annex, along with a two-story commons area that will house training centers, conference rooms and a cafeteria that can be converted into an auditorium spacious enough to hold the entire staff. The campus also will have large open green spaces for walking trails, water features such as ponds and waterfalls and an amphitheater, as well as enough vacant land to add a second office tower on the other side of the commons area in the future.

Moreover, Aviva’s headquarters could become the first major new commercial construction project in Iowa to achieve a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold rating, the second-highest rating given by the U.S. Green Building Council.

All with a price tag of $135 million to $150 million and a spring 2010 deadline.

The company had a groundbreaking ceremony last month and expects to officially begin construction in the next couple of weeks, as well as finalize its design plans. Work now in progress is mostly being done by the city to widen Mills Civic Parkway; the city of West Des Moines will eventually construct Cascade Road, which will run along the southern border of Aviva’s campus, and South 81st Street to the west.

Driving factors

Aviva USA’s rapid expansion is driving the need for a “world-class facility for employees, something that is very efficient in terms of work space,” Littlefield said.

It is one of the fastest-growing life insurers in the nation, with 40 percent business growth in 2007 and double-digit growth expected again this year. Since Aviva plc acquired AmerUs Group Co. in 2006, the company has hired 280 people, bringing its U.S. work force to around 900 people, and Aviva USA leaders already have begun discussing the need for expansion with concern that the company will quickly fill its headquarters when it moves in two years from now.

Currently the company is spread out among three Des Moines buildings: the Hub Tower, Capital Square and 611 Fifth Ave., which was built in the early 1950s and needs upgrading. It has had to negotiate other lease space to handle more growth until it can move to its new headquarters.

Aviva USA also wanted to incorporate different design elements to make its building stand out, such as a separate commons area with a glass wall overlooking the valley and a glass stairwell that can be lit up for special events “so you really see from the corner this grand entryway and big glass stairway that runs all the way up the side of the building,” Littlefield said.

The company chose West Des Moines for its new offices after Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield staked its claim on a site that Aviva leaders say was the only really good option it had to build downtown. Matt Anderson, economic development administrator for the city of Des Moines, said Wellmark was further along in working with landowners to acquire parcels in the Western Gateway Park area and that Aviva could have considered building in Riverpoint West along West Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, but “for one reason or another they were not interested in it,” he said.

The suburban location gives Aviva enough land to expand in the future and incorporate a park-like setting.

Design features

The commons building is set to the north of the office tower to help break the cold northwest winds, allowing a section of outdoor space to be more protected and used more throughout the year. Setting the cafeteria and other amenities away from the office will allow employees to feel as if they’re leaving work, said Dan Willrich, vice president and secretary of SVPA Architects Inc., the production architecture firm on the project.

The interior office design won’t be finalized for another couple of months, but will likely have a more open layout, with a few offices placed in the center of the floors to allow all employees to have more access to natural light.

Recognizing a desire among the younger generation for more flexible work environments, the office space will likely include wireless Internet access, casual spaces and other features that encourage people to collaborate and work in multiple areas throughout the building.

A fitness center will be on the bottom level of the tower. The large glass stairwell is designed to be more inviting, encouraging people to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Each floor will have a balcony near a coffee bar to give employees a chance to quickly get some fresh air.

“The commons building and other employee commons areas are really where we’re investing a lot of our dollars to improve the work environment of employees and take into account a lot of the new trends that affect the next generation in terms of mobility, touchdown spots (casual meeting areas) and wireless ability,” Littlefield said. The company also is investing in new technology, such as teleconferencing to help reduce business travel.

For landscaping, Aviva is working with Brian Clark and Associates to create an outdoor space that will accommodate large tents for bigger events. By separating the office tower from the commons building, the company will be able to open the outdoor and commons space to the public, while keeping the work area more secure.

“We really tried to design it in a way that it’s an important integral piece of the community that can help serve our events and perhaps other events as well,” Littlefield said.

LEED standards

Striving for a LEED gold rating was a goal from day one, though it will add about 12 to 18 percent onto the total cost of the project, Littlefield said.

This fits in with its parent company’s goal to be more environmentally friendly. “We’re the first insurance company that globally went to a carbon-neutral position with respect to its operations,” Littlefield said. “It’s a very high priority for the organization to reduce our footprint and be a good citizen in the communities we where operate.”

To achieve a gold rating, Aviva USA will need 39 to 51 points out of 69 in six categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation.

It will incorporate features such as air purification systems, a floor air system that allows employees to control how much heat or air conditioning they want, window shading that follows the sunlight throughout the day and a system that captures and uses rainwater. It will purchase most construction materials from vendors within a 500-mile radius of the building and strive to recycle up to 95 percent of construction waste.

As part of this process, it has hired LEED consultant The Weidt Group and has assembled a large team that has worked together to design the project since Aviva announced it would build in West Des Moines, which includes HKS Inc. as the design architect and The Weitz Co. as the general contractor.

Aviva also engaged employees early on.

It looked at ZIP codes to see where most employees live and consider how easy it would be for them to commute downtown or the suburbs to work. It also sent out a survey asking for feedback on topics such as desired amenities and workplace design, which had a more than 90 percent participation rate.

Aviva plc has given its subsidiary autonomy to design its headquarters and has made significant investments in other facilities worldwide in the past five years, including buildings in Dublin and Paris.

“Other than saying “We agree with you; we believe we should make the investment,’ there hasn’t been a lot of telling us what to do,” Littlefield said. But, he added, Aviva USA “has tried to be pretty sensitive in making the space efficient.”