HED is proud to be listed as one of Zweig Group's best Firms to Work For in 2021. The Best Firms to Work For award recognizes the AEC firms in the US and Canada based on their workplace practices, employee benefits, employee retention rates, and much more.

To see the full list click the link below.

A coalition of more than 250 architecture, engineering and construction firms is urging the Biden administration to take “swift executive action” to require higher sustainability standards for U.S. buildings and infrastructure as part of its Build Back Better plan.

The AEC Sustainable Leaders Group sent a 10-page Build Back Better letter to the White House with six major recommendations, each containing specific proposals that could be acted on by the executive branch.

We're proud to share that our San Francisco office has once again been named a Best & Brightest Company in the Bay Area! The Best and Brightest Companies to Work For competition identifies and honors organizations that display a commitment to excellence in their human resource practices and employee enrichment. Organizations are assessed on communication, work-life balance, employee education, diversity, recognition, retention and more.

News of the HED and Pacific Cornerstone Architects (PCA) merger has drawn some attention in San Diego, most recently in the San Diego Business Journal. (Please note the following is an excerpt).

“San Diego does have a bit of a reputation of being a bit more of a closed market than say L.A. or San Francisco,” Devereaux said. Devereaux is hoping the merger will result in the firm getting bigger projects in the region. “If you look at our national portfolio, you’ll see we’re capable of doing big, complex things really well. That was sort of missing in San Diego,” Deveraux said. “I think now we’ll start seeing the more significant projects.”

Growth
HED opened its first office in San Diego more than 15 years ago. “We had a cold start, hiring just one person. It was a struggle,” Devereaux said. “The San Diego office got a foothold in education. We’re doing a lot of public-school district work and also university work.” The firm grew gradually to have a staff of 29 at the time of the merger. With the addition of Pacific Cornerstone, Devereaux said the combined firm will have a staff of about 40. Devereaux said the merger will give the combined organization a more diversified portfolio. “We’d like to be 50% public sector and 50% private sector,” Devereaux said. “Those things run counter-cyclical. That allows us to not hire and fire people at the peaks and troughs.”

HED corporate marketing leader Enrique Suarez AIA, LEED AP has been featured in Engineering News Record's article: "Top 500 Design Firms: Designing for the New Normal."

Read what Enrique had to say about changes in our industry at the link below.

HED is proud to be listed once again in the Engineer News Record Top 500 Design Firms ranking.

From safety to service, structural integrity to sustainability, engineers play a vital role in our integrated process, impacting every aspect of design from concept to construction. They’re the ones who keep it standing. Keep it safe. Make it shine. Save time. Energy. Money. And lives.

HED ranks 187 out of 500 in 2021. View the full list at the link below.

HED-designed Fifth Avenue Apartments opens for Interfaith Housing Development Corporation! The new apartment development provides 72 affordable housing units in the Village of Maywood, a western suburb of Chicago.

A smart design and construction approach utilizing offsite prefabricated architectural precast panels meant that the entire building structure could be assembled in just 35 days to bring much-needed affordable housing to the community.

HED is proud to have provided integrated architecture and engineering services for the project.

Read more about the Fifth Avenue Apartments in the link below.

Jennette La Quire, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP ID+C joined fellow SCN Board members, Tracy Carusi, AIA of Collins Cooper Carusi Architects, and Mark Schoeman, AIA, DBIA of Anderson Brule Architects, to share their thoughtful insights, updates, and observations on modern educational architecture.

Learn about their current project portfolio, important industry trends, and how COVID-19 is impacting school design in the link below.

HED is pleased to announce its merger with Pacific Cornerstone Architects (PCA), an architecture, interior design, and planning firm with a 27-year history of design leadership across Southern California, PCA brings a seasoned team of experienced architects and designers to the national, integrated HED design team.

“We are committed to strategic growth that increases the firm’s ability to create positive impact for our clients and their stakeholders. Bringing the PCA team into the HED family will align with our vibrant San Diego practice and enable us to make a greater impact in this thriving region and beyond,” said Peter Devereaux, FAIA, Chairman and CEO of HED.

This merger will bring expanded expertise in the life sciences, higher education, and commercial market segments, and will add additional institutional knowledge of the San Diego community to the critical planning and entitlement phases of the design process. Together our expanded capabilities will strengthen relationships within the local and regional development community and provide greater depth and breadth of services.

In the area of life sciences in particular, San Diego has long held a prominent position as a national industry leader. HED and PCA both have long histories of design excellence and leadership in the life sciences as well as other sectors such as higher education. PCA has developed a long history of work for San Diego State University, among other higher education institutions. From dining facilities to residence halls, to learning centers and libraries, the combined higher education portfolio of the two firms is well-suited to serve both university and community college building operators. The merger of these two firms represents a significant combined expertise and experience which will be of tangible benefit to clients.

“We are excited to be able to offer an even more robust suite of integrated design services to our long-time clients,” said Tim Schulze, AIA, Principal and Founding Partner of PCA. “We have already begun significant collaboration with our new colleagues, and we look forward to continuing to develop innovative design solutions in the San Diego community."

Don’t miss this year’s Living Future 2021 Conference where you will catch HED’s very own, Susan King, and other leaders and visionaries dedicated to “deep green sustainability and creating transformative and scalable impact” to the built environment.

This year’s virtual conference is focused on themes of inclusion + unity. Susan will be speaking on Friday, April 23rd, on the Advocacy in Action: Unifying a Multi-Faceted Approach to Solving the Housing Crisis at Scale session.

In this workshop, Susan and other industry experts will share their experience and collective wisdom around solving the housing crisis. Attendees will learn about the concept of Diversity in Density, explore the latest in prefabrication and modular construction, understand existing financial tools and mechanisms for financing affordable housing, and identify the barriers in our financial mechanism for funding affordability and strategize ways to remove these barriers.

Susan F. King, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, LFA is a Principal with HED Architects. As a Studio Leader for Housing in the Midwest, Susan advocates for both attainable housing and green market transformation of the building industry, she is routinely invited to speak on these topics. As a principal, she leads multi-disciplinary teams towards achieving aesthetically appealing sustainable solutions in a collaborative integrated design setting. She was recognized by Green Building & Design Magazine with a Women in Sustainability Leadership Award in 2016. Most recently she has been an active participant with Living Future Affordable Housing Pilot Cohort 3.

Living Future is a non-profit, cutting-edge green building and design event with the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment and create a future of Living Buildings. Now in its 15th year, the conference has grown into the International Living Future Institute's flagship event and the leading event for sustainable and regenerative design professionals working towards more just and equitable communities.