BP’s plush Westlake office rehab aims to ‘get it right’

The entire first floor has been remade: Starbucks, hair and nail salon, cafeteria and much more

Tuesday at noon, employees of oil giant BP filed into their building’s new cafeteria to order from one of nine food stations, each serving different cuisines — from sushi to hummus to Korean barbecue.

Several well-appointed conference rooms with unique furniture and seating configurations were in use just off the main lobby on the building’s first floor. Each was designed to represent different parts of Texas and BP, with such names as Hill Country, Gulf Coast, Wind and Solar.

Under a canopy outside the front entrance, a soaring “living wall” unveils a pattern of colors resembling the company’s gradated sun logo.

After BP’s largest office building in Houston

was inundated more than two years ago with three feet of water, a result of dam releases during Hurricane Harvey, company leaders decided not only to repair the building but to remake the entire first floor, including its corporate cafeteria, fitness facility and conference center.

“Our U.S. headquarters is home to our largest concentration of BP employees anywhere in the world,” Susan Dio, chairman and president of BP America, said. “Getting this right is incredibly important.”

Dio declined to say what the company spent on the renovations, but the space is filled with new amenities. In addition to the cafeteria, which the company has branded 501 Urban Market (the building’s address is 501 Westlake Park Blvd.), there’s a Starbucks coffee bar, a shop to buy convenience items, a retaillike IT services section and a hair and nail salon.

Gensler was the architect on the project, and BP also retained WeWork, the New York-based coworking operator, to help with the redesign.

“They brought design experts here and met with our folks to challenge the way we use space,” Dio said. “They used their expertise to create choice in the workplace.”

The upgrades were focused on the first floor of the building on BP’s campus south of Interstate 10 near Eldrdige. But the company also retrofitted two floors in the tower, as part of a pilot program to test different ways of working. The floors have more collaborative spaces, informal seating and sit-to-stand desks.

The company was displaced from its 28-story building, also known as Westlake One, until

May 2018. Employees had taken space in an adjacent building and when they moved back, many of the amenities were temporary.

Workers on Wednesday were preparing the space for a Thursday morning re-opening ceremony where Gov. Greg Abbott and Mayor Sylvester Turner were expected to attend.

“I would like to get across a message to employees that we’re back, that we are energized and that we are part of the community,” Dio said. “This is a big deal for us.”

Marc Morrison / Courtesy of BP Hurricane Harvey flooded BP’s Westlake Campus with three feet of water. The company remade the entire first floor. “Getting this right is incredibly important,” said Susan Dio, chairman and president of BP America.

Melissa Phillip / Staff photographer The Hub gathering space is one of the building’s new amenities. BP brought in designers from WeWork to challenge how the space was used.

Photos by Melissa Phillip / Staff photographer The lobby at BP’s Westlake One campus, now called 501 Urban Market, features conference rooms designed and named after different areas of Texas or different divisions of BP.

The food area features nine stations that serve everything from sushi to hummus to Korean barbecue. The company also offers upgrades like a fitness facility and hair and nail salons.