Celebrating 30 Years in Business!

A quick flashback to 1987 when it all got started here at Hillhouse…the Billboard top hit of the year was the Bangles “Walk Like An Egyptian” and Silicon Valley was entering its Golden Age with some now household names just coming on the scene: Dell Computers, AOL, Cisco and Adobe to name a few. To truly date ourselves, we were even around pre the launch of the World-Wide Web on the Internet (1990)! Anyone else feeling old yet?!

Watching the Silicon Valley grow and change to what is today, especially being directly involved in the building up of the area, has truly been a remarkable experience! Two of the most profound changes we’ve seen over the past 30 years in the commercial real estate industry are the growth of the global workplace and the emphasis on workplace design. Recognizing how we design and build here can have reaching, global impact. This awareness and elevated purpose was a turning point for Hillhouse’s vision and mission from a best-of-class general contractor to one of a pioneering role for healthy, sustainable and socially responsible design and construction in the corporate office space. The thoughtfulness in healthy and sustainable design and opportunity for innovation in our workplace today inspires us to be our best – drawing from all our past successes and lessons learned as we forge ahead with confidence in our path and our partnerships.

A building that has come full circle for Hillhouse in the last 30 years. A newly renovated ZNE project in Mountain View, that President, Ken Huesby, worked on in his early days in the industry.

I recently had the pleasure of seeing one of my very first projects come full circle. Back in 1984, before starting Hillhouse, I was working as a superintendent building one of the typical of the time, concrete tilt-ups in Mountain View. Fast forward to 2015 and I was brought back to that same structure with the task of transforming it into one of Hillhouse’s specialty Zero Net Energy, Zero Carbon Emission buildings for architect AP+I Design’s new office space. It was heartfelt and symbolic for me to experience our mission and vision so personally.

All said and done, these 30 years are not something we accomplished alone – I want to give a heartfelt thank you to all our past and present business partnerships throughout the industry as Hillhouse Construction celebrates this milestone anniversary. Reflecting back, I not only think about the projects we have built, but also distinctly remember the people we’ve worked with. I am so pleased to say that Hillhouse has been blessed with many amazing relationships, many of them still with us today! Internally as well, I’m very thankful for the team we’ve developed, which boasts quite a few longstanding employees: some going on 27+ years with us. They’ve been a huge asset in providing our clients and partners with consistency, reliability and really just a solid job well done at the end of the day.

Looking ahead, together with passionate like-minded thought leaders, we have committed ourselves to innovation in sustainable construction for a “Net Positive” global impact. We welcome the next 30 years together with enthusiasm and purpose!

-Ken Huesby
President