In August 2008, Aetna commenced planning the consolidation of employees into their Hartford, CT campus.  This project intended to bring 2,600 employees from Middletown, Connecticut onto Hartford – the largest initiative Aetna had undertaken in many years.  The Atrium building, a pre-cast concrete 6 story building adjacent to their home office, had not had any substantial reconstruction in many decades and needed a serious renovation.  The project included building out 6 floors of office space, upgrading all infrastructure, and designing a new lobby and entrance, in addition to upgrading the access corridors to the main campus. 

As part of this consolidation, their strategy for using demountable walls was under review.  Aetna’s churn rate proved that demountable wall solutions provided the most cost effective and time saving approach to reconfigurations, but what they had found in the past were unitized products that were ordered in a specific height, width and finish.  Over the years they had accumulated a vast inventory of Hauserman modular walls that were in a variety of widths, heights and finishes.  Tracking, storing and maintaining the inventory was becoming a full time job for the facilities group.  And they could be demounted and reused - as long as the dimensions were the same in the new space.  If different finishes were specified for different spaces they could not be mixed and matched. In the newly expanded multi-building campus with differing building conditions and finishes, this product was no longer feasible. 

Aetna and Grubb and Ellis Management Services (their onsite management company), along with their team of architects, began to explore the other products and solutions available for the new Atrium building.  The goal was to provide for more flexibility, decrease the inventory management workload and have a modern glass look which would enhance the work environment for their employees.  During this evaluation period Aetna looked at Spaceworks Architectural Interiors’ Starwall product and asked them to provide a mock up. When evaluating the Starwall solution, they liked the double glazing detail (for sound control), the choice of doors and hardware, and the fact that it is built in place, offering customization and integrated fit that was unmatched.  In addition, the Starwall is specified as a “kit of parts” that can be customized to ceiling heights up to 20’ and has endless finish options that can be easily swapped out.  Best of all there are a limited number of parts and pieces that can easily be stored and inventoried for future use.

As a result of the mock up, Spaceworks AI was awarded a pilot project for Aetna’s Human Resources department, which consisted of approximately 50 office and conference room fronts. Aetna was pleased with the installation, responsiveness and professionalism and awarded Spaceworks AI the 650,000 sq ft Atrium consolidation project.  This project commenced in the summer of 2009 and was completed in six phases, by October 2009.  SAI successfully installed over 6,000 linear feet of office and conference room fronts, including glass, doors and hardware, on time and on budget.  

The Starwall office fronts have been well received and the GEMS project management team has chosen it for the new office standard.  Spaceworks AI has installed several additional projects since the completion of the Atrium project.  Spaceworks AI continually works with Aetna and their facilities and design groups to look at other possible solutions for “a better way to build”—in other words, building for future flexibility, first time cost effectiveness and minimizing the time to occupy the space during renovations.  In conjunction with the Starwall demountable walls, Aetna has looked at the benefits of ASM Products low profile technology platform.  Already used in the Atrium building (80,000 sq ft of former data center was renovated as office space), this 3” version of a traditional access floor allows for the ability to run modular power/data/cable throughout their space without the cost of floor coring.