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KLJ Builds New Home | 7/24/2012

With the steel frame coming together on this hill overlooking north Bismarck, workers at Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson will soon have plenty of freedom to work on their civil engineering, surveying and design projects.

"It`s more of an open and collaborative style. Where less attention is given to the individual office space and more attention to common gathering collaborative spaces," said Bismarck office manager Brett Gurholt.

With 16 offices in six states, the engineering firm is headquartered in Bismarck and is designing the 80,000 square foot complex to serve as its new home base. KLJ`s staff has already increased to handle a rapidly growing portfolio of work that includes municipal airports and state highways, as well as oil and gas and water projects.

"We do any type of consulting that involves infrastructure. Specializing in civil based infrastructure. But we also do a lot of telecommunications and electrical," said CEO Niles Hushka.

Hushka says it`s no shocker that a majority of those jobs are focused in western North Dakota.

"I`d say in any given day, 60 percent of our work is related in some fashion to either oil and gas development in North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana."

Hushka says besides the 230 employees working in Bismarck, the new headquarters will also play host to around 200 additional workers from the firm`s satellite offices each month for training purposes.

"The unique feature about this building is that it does have built into it a lot of opportunities to train staff, educate new staff," Gurholt said.

The steel work is slated to be finished by the end of the month, and Hushka hopes to have the building enclosed later this fall. Interior work will continue over the winter and the staff can look forward to moving into their new headquarters in the fall of 2013.

The firm is also preparing for future growth. Gurholt says there`s room to add up to 30,000 additional square feet if needed.