Healthcare technology company establishes 8,000 square foot corporate headquarters at145 W. Ostend Street to serve approximately 45 employees
b.well® Connected Health, a digital health leader founded by Kristen Valdes in 2015, has opened a new office in an 8,000 square foot space at 145 W. Ostend Street in downtown Baltimore’s Stadium Square development. This marks an important milestone forb.well as it establishes its first office location to serve its growing team of approximately 120 employees, with plans to continue expanding. Approximately 45 employees will work from the space.
b.well’s new headquarters is a testament to its commitment to innovation, with a hybrid working culture that provides flexibility for its team members. The company’s cutting-edge Connected Health platform leverages an open-standard Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources(FHIR) framework, empowering employers, health systems, payers and retail pharmacies to deliver unified and convenient family experiences. This allows consumers to take control of their health and make informed decisions, ultimately leading to improved outcomes and higher levels of satisfaction with their healthcare experience.
By choosing Baltimore for its first physical location, b.well reaffirms its dedication to fostering growth and innovation within the city. The new headquarters is a dynamic and vibrant space, reflective of b.well’s culture of collaboration and creativity. With this new office, b.well will continue to drive progress in the digital health space while contributing to the city’s thriving technology ecosystem.
“Our company has operated primarily on a virtual basis since its inception and throughout our consistent growth, but we always recognized the importance of establishing a true corporate headquarters space to enhance our cohesiveness and foster our innovative corporate culture,” stated Alicia Raymond, b.well’s VP, People and Culture. “The Covid pandemic pushed back our plans for several years, but we knew we wanted to make Baltimore our home. When it came time to choose the right building and to design the perfect office space, it was important to create a safe, employee-centric, collaborative, and fun environment.”
b.wellengaged the support of The Verve Partnership, a Baltimore-based interior architecture and design firm, to establish a strategy, set direction and oversee the design and tenant build-out process for their headquarters.
“We choose 145 E. Ostend Street because we wanted to provide our employees with a vibrant workplace experience. There is considerable energy in the Federal Hill neighborhood, with its eclectic array of shops and restaurants walkable from the building,” Raymond explained. “It was also important to lead by example and make a statement by bringing a new corporate headquarters to Baltimore. The City has tremendous amenities to offer, we believe in its future and we want other companies to do the same.”
Raymond said that the new space was designed to celebrate b.well’s employees and their work, promote collaboration and the sharing of ideas, provide a healthy environment, and foster a community feeling where workers feel engaged, innovative and motivated to perform.
The Verve Partnership encouraged employee interaction by designing a space by balancing both private work spaces, open and closed collaboration space and drop in work spaces that allow privacy while also welcoming interaction and connectivity. Access to natural light and the use of plants are critical to the design as a nod to conveying a biophilic design approach to health and wellness.
Additionally, the choices of textures, lighting and soft colors were crucial, as every decision needed to build upon the other to create a feeling of community, togetherness and innovation.
The design is supported by furniture that includes couches reminiscent of a person’s living room that was both inviting and comfortable, while retaining a feeling of professionalism. Additional touches included the incorporation of motivational signage and healthy snacks, reinforcing b.well’s corporate responsibility for successful patient outcomes and overall wellness.
In true form of what we’d expect from The Verve Partnership, relevant and intentional design that starts with a vision, a story to back it up, and quality driven programming-always ends in a fantastic space that aligns with a client’s business objectives. b.well’s leadership team recognized this approach and was engaged in lock step at every turn.
“The true success of every project is the team,” explained Kelly Ennis, Founder and Managing Principal of The Verve Partnership. “This means a team that is built early on and is as engaged and motivated about achieving client success as the client themselves.”
“We had that team from day one with b.well, MacKenzie Contracting Company and our design professionals. We built a project culture of trust and open communication and the result is a true reflection of that,” she added.
“In a time where projects are heavily affected by surging material costs and project delays, The Verve Partnership offers a radically new way of doing business,” said Sara Pollaco, Senior Project Manager, MacKenzie Contracting Company, which oversaw the tenant build-out. “Taking a collaborative approach to project management, Kelly and her team worked in parallel with oursto provide thoughtful, affordable and effective solutions while still upholding the design integrity and ensuring b.well’s vision were met.”
“We want this space to serve as a statement of our corporate values, philosophy and culture,” Raymond added. “We intend to replicate the space ourselves as we establish new affiliate offices in other cities. We intended to establish a space that is the opposite of stifling, is aligned with our goals of growth and innovation goals, and provides a true sense of belonging.”
The Verve Partnership is a strategy-centric firm which approaches design challenges by studying how place is impacted by purpose and people from the “inside-out.” For additional information, visit www.thevervepartnership.com
