Nestlé® HQ Renovation

Despite the difficult economic situation caused by Covid-19, there are companies like Nestlé® that are giving a very positive signal to the market, by maintaining their strategic plans. Over the next 12 months, the HQ building of the multinational company will undergo a total renovation, with Vector Mais being chosen as a general contractor, in a project with architecture from Openbook studio and project management from Source8.

In an interview with Dinheiro Vivo (video above), Maria do Rosário Vilhena, human resources director at Nestlé® Portugal says that “more than the transformation of a building, it is a cultural transformation project”. In a totally innovative concept, the renovated headquarters will allow a thousand employees to take their children to the office, meet in the garden, take yoga classes or do agricultural experiments in the organic garden that will be created. “Promoting a more collaborative and transversal way of working”, says Alexis Pinheiro, Nestlé® workplace solutions manager, the new campus will accommodate more than 1000 employees, from 39 nationalities and of various age groups. “The building we are building must be more inclusive to accommodate this diversity and for having more mobility,” concludes the human resources director.

To embody this vision, the Openbook studio developed a concept based on an experience that has a common thread throughout the entire campus. Paulo Jervell, a partner at the architecture studio, explains that “in the transformation of buildings we tend to return to the concept of home”, with a focus on the themes of comfort, safety, relationship with people. The result? The nest, the logo of the company: a building where there are no offices (not even for the general director), in which the business units (from coffee, chocolate to pet care) are organized in 18 anchor points, but allowing that employees, if the projects require it, join other units.

Vector Mais, used to large office projects, will make this new office concept a reality, where sustainability plays an essential role. The idea will be to create a ‘green’ building, something visible not only in the type of materials used in the project but also in the changes introduced in the automated lighting and air conditioning systems and in the installation of solar panels, allowing substantial savings in energy consumption.

The Nestlé® Brands are registered trademarks of Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., Vevey, Switzerland.