Less than two months since $122 million was announced to create an Energy Innovation Hub at the
Philadelphia Navy Yard, the project is already taking shape. United Kingdom-based
Mark Group, a European home energy efficiency leader, was welcomed on Friday by Gov. Ed Rendell to its new home at the Navy Yard, where it will hire up to 320 workers over the next three years.
Mark Group was founded in 1974 and boasts of improving the energy efficiency of more than 2 million homes, installing more than 6,000 measures every week that help consumers save. The company is in growth mode, having recently established an Australian base of operations.
Led by a
Penn State University-headed team, the
Clean Energy campus at the Navy Yard is one of three regional clusters nationally that are designed to bring together leading researchers and the private sector to develop energy efficient building designs. Buildings accounty for nearly 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption.
"The creation of alternative energy sources is key to America's economic future," says Mark Group CEO Jeff Bartos. "We are excited to launch our business from Philadelphia and to deliver energy efficiency upgrades to homes throughout the nation."
As part of the move, Mark Group received a $3.28 million financing package from the Governor's Action Team. Bringing the company across the pond was truly a collaborative effort: The state
Department of Community and Economic Development's international trade off, the
City of Philadelphia,
Select Greater Philadelphia, the
Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. and the
TeamPA Foundation were all credited.
Source: Jeff Bartos, Mark Group
Writer: Joe Petrucci