Missouri First Lady Georganne Nixon Presents Award to John Alberici
June 22, 2010
ST. LOUIS – Missouri First Lady Georganne Nixon presented John Alberici, chairman of Alberici Corp., with the Grow Native! Ambassador Award today for his achievements in using native Missouri plants to beautify the environment, conserve resources and educate the public at Alberici’s headquarters.
The First Lady presented the award during a lunch and tour of the Alberici headquarters at 8800 Page Avenue in St. Louis. “These native plants are important to the landscape in so many ways,” she said.
Missouri First Lady Georganne Nixon presents the Grow Native Ambassador Award to John Alberici.
Mrs. Nixon presented the award during one of five stops as part of the “Power of Plants Tour,” an event organized for her by the Horticulture Co-op of Metro St. Louis, a non-profit group. Other guests at the event included Peter Raven, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, his wife, Patricia, and a number of horticulturalists, including some who helped design and care for the native landscape at Alberici headquarters.
In accepting the award, Mr. Alberici said he did so on behalf of the company and the many Alberici employees who have contributed to the effort to create the native landscape at the headquarters building and “provide a beautiful surrounding for everyone to enjoy.”
When Alberici Corp. redeveloped a steel fabrication shop to create its headquarters five years ago, John Alberici led an effort to install native species of plants, including different varieties of prairie vegetation. The property requires no permanent irrigation system and virtually no mowing and no fertilization. It has retention ponds to store rainwater from the roofs of the building and a garage, and it has a rain garden to control run-off that threatened to erode soil.
John S. Alberici, center, leads a tour of landscaping at Alberici Corporate Headquarters for Peter Raven, President of the Missouri Botanical Garden, left, and First Lady Georganne Nixon, right.
The Alberici headquarters was built through the use of sustainable materials and practices, and it was one of the first buildings in the United States to receive the “Platinum” ranking under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system. Vertegy, an Alberici subsidiary, provides sustainability consulting to construction and design firms.
Alberici, based in St. Louis, reported $862.5 million in revenue in 2009, and is ranked as the 55th largest construction firm in the United States by the Engineering News-Record.
For information, please contact Peter Shinkle at (314) 733-2395, or email: pshinkle@alberici.com