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Few people like to move. Even when there are plenty of good reasons to pick up and go, most of us dread moving — all the planning and packing, the uncertainties and unloading. But when that last box has been emptied, and everyone has settled in, most of us can look back and feel content with the decisions we’ve made. Even when it involves relocating a major corporation.
And that’s exactly how Alan Boeckmann feels today, a little more than four years after making the decision to relocate Fluor Corporation’s world headquarters from southern California to North Texas.
“Texas, and more specifically the DFW area, was a perfect fit for Fluor,” says Boeckmann, who has served as chairman and CEO of the FORTUNE 500 company since 2002. “i would say that Fluor’s move to Texas has been extremely beneficial. The best thing about being located in DFW is reflected by the significantly improved morale and attitude of our corporate headquarters staff. Everyone has a pleasant, can-do attitude.”
With revenues of $22.3 billion last year, Fluor is one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the world. Previously headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., for nearly a century, Fluor announced its move to the Lone Star State in July 2005. The Fluor relocation helped push Texas past both New York and California as the state
with the most FORTUNE 500 headquarters.
“One of the contributing factors to Fluor’s decision to leave California was the challenging business environment created by the state and local governments,” Boeckmann says. “The state of Texas has a much more business-friendly outlook, and I am happy that Texas is where our global headquarters is now located.”
Today, Fluor’s corporate home is a three-story, 136,000-square-foot building in Irving, Texas. Situated on 26.8 acres in the prestigious master-planned community of Las Colinas, the facility was developed by KDC on a “fast-track” schedule of only eight months.
The headquarters facility houses 180 of Fluor’s executives and support staff members. The rest of Fluor’s 42,000 employees are scattered across the globe on six continents, tackling some of the largest and most difficult engineering and construction projects in the world. These projects include building the $1.8 billion, 500-megawatt offshore wind farm – the world’s largest – off the coast of England; rebuilding the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, which was damaged during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake; and supporting the U.S. armed forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Business-Friendly Environment
Throughout his 35-year career with Fluor, Boeckmann spent several years running different parts of the company’s business and has lived in Texas three different times. “I was familiar with and really enjoyed the Texas attitude, culture and way of life,” he says.
Yet Texas locations — specifically Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston — were just two of many places Fluor evaluated for its new global headquarters. Working with Cushman & Wakefield, the firm’s short list also included Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and London, just to name a few.
“DFW won out for a number of reasons — the business-friendly environment of the state, no personal income tax, a world-class international airport nearby, affordable home prices, good weather and an educated and affordable workforce,” Boeckmann says.
When Boeckmann first announced the relocation, he indicated that Fluor chose the DFW Metroplex because of its proximity to key clients and the region’s central location and accessibility to international clients. “Being close to our clients, their offices and their projects is very important to us,” he says. “We can literally be anywhere in the U.S. in a few hours and have access to more than 100 international destinations.”
Today, more than 50 percent of the company’s clients reside east of the Mississippi, and it continues to expand globally, with about 45 percent of new assignments in 2008 coming from projects outside the United States.
With the move, Fluor has been able to reduce travel times, improve its management of corporate functions and enhance its ability to interface with clients, Boeckmann points out. Moreover, the move has allowed Fluor’s senior management to manage the company’s employees more effectively, he explains.
“I do think a headquarters’ location can impact a company’s business in a very positive manner,” Boeckmann says. During the relocation, Fluor lost some employees who elected to not move from California to Texas. However, Boeckmann contends the employees the company has been able to recruit and hire at its new headquarters have surpassed expectations.
“When we were evaluating all our options, being able to replace those employees was one of our biggest concerns,” Boeckmann admits. “The other concern was how the move would impact our culture. Fluor was founded nearly a century ago and has deep roots in Orange County and Southern California. However, we feel we have been welcomed to the DFW business community with open arms.”
Boeckmann says cities and local municipalities play an important role in attracting corporate headquarters and can influence decisions by being business-friendly and helpful to the relocation process. “Early on, the city of Irving and KDC made the effort to understand our needs and what our timeline was,” he notes. “They were very helpful and made every effort to assist Fluor in getting the needed permits and inspections to stay on schedule.”
Also, the city of Irving officials took it upon themselves to rename one of the adjacent streets Fluor Boulevard. “They surprised us with that presentation at a board meeting even before we moved into our new location,” Boeckmann recalls. “It was a very generous and kind gesture.”
Spectacular Facility
Once Fluor committed to the move and KDC was selected to develop the new headquarters, the company had to decide what kind of new headquarters facility it wanted. While the company wanted a building that would reflect its culture, it also wanted to give its employees a first-class work environment.
Clad in natural Texas limestone with an allglass atrium lobby that connects the office wings, Fluor’s new headquarters facility is “spectacular,” according to Boeckmann. In addition to a two-story, covered parking structure, the campus includes a commercial kitchen and dining area, an employee fitness center, a 100-seat auditorium, multiple meeting rooms and a “history walk” depicting Fluor’s nearly 100-year past.
Under KDC’s management, the building was completed on time and on budget.
“Our experience with KDC was already positive,” Boeckmann says. “They made sure that the needed details were taken care of. Since Fluor also builds large, complex structures for our clients, we have a deep understanding for what is expected. Overall, I would give the team a ringing endorsement. It was a job well done.”
Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, the facility features sustainable elements such as high-performance glass, windows sunscreens to provide shading and plenty of natural landscaping.
“I think the aspect that I like most is that while it’s a state-of-the-art building that is LEED-certified, we have retained a great deal of the natural topography and native Texas landscape,” Boeckmann says. “Just a few feet from our front door, you can feel like you are walking through part of the Texas wilderness. Also, the use of in-state stone and wood on the exterior and interior makes it truly special.”
Now that Fluor has had time to settle into its new headquarters, Boeckmann has some counsel for other companies looking to relocate: “The sagest piece of advice I could give other executives would be to focus on where you can get the best pool of talent to fill the positions you need and work with a well-known quality developer to help execute your vision for a new corporate headquarters.”