by Rebecca Hargus
A Permian Basin oil and gas company takes a leadership role in redefining what an oil and gas company workplace can be.
Economic growth has been taking place at a record pace in the Permian, and in the midst of this growth, companies have been expanding and looking for ways to keep topnotch employees and attract new ones, all while streamlining the growth process. For Pioneer Natural Resources, this process has included the development of new facilities to serve as the company’s regional headquarters for Midland. That step has also meant a focus on happy, healthy employees, as well as an emphasis on conservation of energy and water.
For Pioneer, this amounted to an investment in their future, as their existing location in downtown Midland was becoming cramped and no longer fully accommodative to the volume of business being handled there. Employees—even members of the same teams, in some cases—were scattered throughout the building on different floors and, in some cases, in different buildings altogether. The need for a change was evident. Danny Barker and his team scouted downtown Midland and other areas of the city for buildings to remodel, but could not find anything that would accommodate anticipated growth, so the team decided to build instead.
Keeping the interest of their employees in mind, Pioneer sent a survey to employees asking their input on the new location. The company settled on the ClayDesta Plaza area north of Midland, inside Loop 250, and the groundbreaking ceremony took place in 2012. Ziegler Cooper of Houston was the architectural firm used in designing the building. The W.S. Bellows team, also of Houston, was in charge of construction.
The new regional headquarters encloses 260,000 square feet. It has a partial basement and six floors. The building can accommodate a maximum occupancy of 550 employees, and the three-story parking garage has room for 469 vehicles. Some 260 employees currently occupy the site, but the company anticipates doubling their workforce in the next eight to ten years.
Energy conserving glass and other energy efficient materials were used in the construction of Pioneer’s new building. This emphasis on energy conservation has given the space a silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating. Water conservation was also considered, and efforts were made during landscaping to incorporate plants that need little water. “We did not want green, lush, [water-hoarding] plants,” Barker said. An on-site well was also drilled specifically for landscaping purposes.
According to Barker, the goal was to design something to be proud of, but not something too pretentious. “We wanted the building to make a statement. We did not want it to be over-the-top or too opulent, but we wanted it to be nice, defined, current, and well done.”
Barker says Pioneer strives to promote healthy lifestyles for their employees, and this philosophy is evident in the new facility, from the fitness center to the cafeteria that serves “nutritious yet palatable” lunches four days a week. The new facility is also home to a childcare center for employee use only. Barker says, “We are very much about our employees. We know they are what makes Pioneer strong. We are only as good as our employees. We want to keep them and attract them.”
