Office interiors firm set for grand debut
ACalgary office furniture company is set to make its industry debut this week. About a year ago, I reported that HBI — a rebranding of Heritage Business Interiors — was moving into new premises on Portland Street S.E. On my tour last week, there was still a fair amount of work to be done, but president and CEO Mike Taylor is confident it will be shipshape in time for his industry grand opening on Thursday.
The company can now boast of a bright and spacious office/showroom under one roof of a two-storey 30,000-square-foot former software manufacturing plant.
Taylor says the building is perfect and — thanks to bringing in the team of Sizeland Evans Interior Design and general contractor Labbe Leech at the initial stages of the reconfiguration — it is proving an ideal place for his staff to work as well as a welcoming design resource for his architectural and design clients.
It also is a reflection of the success that Taylor has achieved since he established his own business back in 1987. He had worked for Superior Steel Desk and Mccrum’s, but his entrepreneurial spirit drove him to go on his own with his CFO wife Cindi as partner.
Since then, Taylor has expanded into the Edmonton area with another partner, Todd Bish, of Solutions Workplace Furnishings.
The new Calgary location is the fourth he has expanded into in his 25 years, which is also a celebration of the 25 years he has represented Haworth office furniture, movable walls and raised floors from Red Deer south to the U.S. border.
In the spacious reception area with its 30-foot ceiling, visitors will see the first use of recaptured pine beetle wood features that are carried through to a Beetle Cafe reached through tall glass dividers carrying pine forest graphics.
A Teccrete concrete and carpet tile flooring system allows air to rise instead of being forced down the conventional way as well as providing plug and play access for wiring.
HBI has installed a large design district that clients can use as their own resource, complete with touch-screen technology alongside the displays of available colour laminates for office furniture.
The emphasis throughout the showroom is on integrated workplace solutions, with different displays of workstations and thinktank areas that allow for mobility of workers.
They are evident in the second floor HBI office area that houses administration, sales and marketing staff where employees are encouraged to make use of a cafe and collaborative areas where plug and play screens can be rolled into a variety of groupings.
HBI was chosen to provide the movable walls and systems furniture for the Westjet Corporate Campus building at the airport which included office and training spaces, conference centre, cafeteria, retail store and fitness facility.
Haworth office furniture, seating tables and conference furniture as well as files and shelving were chosen for the new Calgary Board of Education building and investment dealer Raymond James used Haworth to create an exciting environment in its new offices in Eight Avenue Place.
HBI is also proud to supply Westjet across North America, Enterprise RentA-car across Canada, and ATB throughout the province, and has been chosen as a major supplier to the new SAIT Polytechnic Trades and Technology complex.
The number for the Highland Park Golf and Country Club answers “not in use” because the popular public nine-hole course has closed down and the land is being offered for sale.
It presents quite an extraordinary opportunity to purchase 16.6 hectares of ravine land in an inner city neighbourhood just to the south of Mcknight Blvd. and stretching between 4th Street and Centre Street N.W.
It’s listed at $11.5 million by Rob Mcelhoes of Colliers International. I expect that a new owner would seek approval for land-use change to allow for some high-end residential.