Sustainability Takes Root at Ford’s New World Headquarters

For 70 years, Ford Motor Company has called its iconic Glass House home. The building has long served as its headquarters and the symbolic center of the company’s operations and leadership, but as Ford has continued to grow, it became clear that it would eventually need a new, much larger headquarters that is also designed for the future.

This new home is now taking shape with the development of the Henry Ford II World Center. The campus, located in Dearborn, Mich., will be roughly double the size of the current headquarters and will anchor a larger, redesigned corporate campus intended to support Ford’s next era of innovation. Helping shape the landscape of the new campus is BrightView, whose team is responsible for installing many of the outdoor and shared spaces that will define the surroundings of the new building.

Sustainability and connectivity are central to the project’s design. The campus will feature 12 acres of greenspace, helping create a walkable environment while more than doubling the tree canopy across the site. A significant portion of the plantings are species native to the area, including a wide mix of grasses, sedges, forbs, and ferns that complement the hundreds of trees and shrubs installed throughout the campus.

“Our goal was to create a landscape that feels vibrant, enduring, and welcoming,” said Alexander Malott, BrightView Assistant General Superintendent. “By incorporating native species alongside carefully selected plant material, we’re helping Ford foster a sustainable environment that employees can enjoy.”

One of the defining features of the project is more than 10,000 square feet of interior courtyard space, along with rooftop terraces and landscaped areas surrounding the building’s exterior. These spaces give Ford employees places to step away from their desks, whether to take a phone call, eat lunch, or simply take five minutes for fresh air.

BrightView’s work for the project includes the installation of green roof systems, irrigation infrastructure, site furnishings, sod, and mulch. Along with trees and shrubs, team members installed thousands of plants and thousands of yards of soil, transforming the site into an environment built for both sustainability and everyday use.

The effort required strong leadership and coordination from across the BrightView team, including Project Manager Tim Winegar and Project Engineer Joe Kidd, who worked tirelessly on different aspects of the project.

“All the elements we worked on was designed to encourage people to connect with nature,” Malott said. “Knowing employees can take a moment to step outside and take in these spaces makes all the hard work worthwhile.”

The project also required careful coordination behind the scenes. With occupancy and security protocols enforced by Ford, BrightView had limited access to the building during construction. Every worker onsite was required to carry a contractor badge and scan a chip to enter and exit the building, making collaboration between BrightView’s management team, Ford, and the project’s general contractor critical to keeping the work moving forward.

“Coordination was a challenge, but it just made the need for collaboration all the more necessary,” Malott said. “It was a true partnership between all the parties and this project wouldn’t have been such a success without it.”

At the height of the project last fall, BrightView had as many as 17 team members on location from the Chicago Development branch, supported by subcontractor crews of five to seven people. Many of BrightView’s team spent weeks away from home to ensure the project would remain on schedule.

The new headquarters celebrated its grand opening in November 2025, though work across the broader campus will continue through 2027. For the BrightView team, the project represents more than just another job, but a chance to help define the backdrop surrounding the next chapter of Ford’s historic legacy.

“This project wasn’t just about creating a landscape, but about shaping an environment where sustainability, beauty, and functionality coexist,” Malott said. “We’re proud to have helped bring Ford’s vision and new headquarters to life.”