HED is proud to announce that it has joined JUST, a program of the International Living Future Institute (ILFI). JUST serves as a tool to help organizations measure their progress on a range of indicators about social justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and sustainability. The firm is embracing this transparency tool as a way to communicate its intentions and commitments in these realms with the firm's 470-person team, its clients, its communities, and its industry peers.

HED's organizational mission is to create positive impact for its clients, the community, and the world. The firm seeks to achieve these goals through maintaining a company culture that supports happy, healthy, engaged people, and one that fosters social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. "The JUST program felt like a perfect lens for the measurement of these core organizational goals," says Petrina Gooch, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Assoc. AIA. Gooch is a Principal with HED, the firm's Corporate Human Resources Leader, and a member of HED's Board of Directors.

The JUST label gives firms a "grade" on a number of indicators -- such as gender and ethnic diversity, pay equity, and others -- and the grades are made publicly available by ILFI. The overall label offers an annual snapshot of the firm's progress on a number of measures.

According to Gooch, "JUST is a valuable tool that helps us measure and transparently share -- with our team and the world -- how we are doing on key measures that at the core, impact the reality of social justice for every worker," she says. For example, HED excels in the Worker Benefit category: HED scores three of three possible stars in two topics in that category: Worker Happiness and Continuing Education.

Tania Van Herle, AIA, is a Principal with HED and serves as the Corporate Systems Leader. "JUST creates a way for us to have meaningful, transparent dialogue about the impact of social justice in our workplaces and in our world," she says. "We expect the dialogue to advance our own contribution to these critical topics in the communities we serve. We welcome the opportunity to help other companies in this journey to make improvements along with us to better the whole."

Gooch adds that she is encouraged by this step because "it is helping us demonstrate that our policies and efforts on these fronts are not just talk or short-lived optics that will quickly vanish," she says. "We are actively engaged in continuous improvement of this growing organization, which is something we want our people and our community to see and experience as they work with us."


ABOUT JUST
JUST is a "nutrition" transparency label and voluntary disclosure tool for socially just and equitable organizations. JUST is not a certification program, it is a transparency platform for organizations to disclose their operations, including how they treat their employees and where they make financial and community investments. Organizations can use the label on their website or marketing to demonstrate their commitments to these issues. The International Living Future Institute also transparently posts the detailed information in the publicly viewable JUST database. This approach requires reporting on a range of organization- and employee-related indicators. Each of the indicator metrics asks for simple yet specific and measurable accountabilities in order for the organization to be recognized at a One, Two, or Three Star Level, which is then summarized elegantly on a label.

HED President Michael Cooper, PE has been elected to serve as a Vice Chair of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Executive Committee.

A federation of 52 state and regional groups, ACEC is made up of more than 5,600 engineering firm and affiliate members, employing over 600,000 engineers, surveyors, architects, and specialists. The organization advocates locally and nationally to grow business opportunities, reduce risk for engineering firms, and to promote awareness of the value of solid engineering design by qualified experts. They encourage collaboration between practitioners and regions to build networks of colleagues for knowledge exchange, sharing of best practices, and business development. The council also creates and manages programming to educate firms to promote sound business leadership and management excellence and continually celebrates design excellence in the built environment by engineering firms whose projects promote societal and economic benefits and sustained quality of life.

"As an organization, ACEC fosters a business environment that promotes safe, impactful and sustainable design solutions. I believe in this mission personally and believe that our member firms will create a better world for all of us. I have been a part of the ACEC/Michigan leadership team for more than a decade, and am thrilled for the opportunity to now serve the organization at the national level," says Cooper.

Joining Cooper on ACEC's Executive Board are several other new members with terms beginning at the 2020 Annual Convention and Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C., including:

• Robin Greenleaf, CEO of Architectural Engineers, Inc., in Boston, who will become the new chair-elect.
• Edmond Alizadeh, president of Geotechnology, Inc. in St. Louis, who will serve as a Vice Chair.
• Matthew Hirst, president/COO of CRS Consulting Engineers in Salt Lake City, Utah, who will serve as a Vice Chair.
• Gary Raba, president of Raba Kistner, Inc. in San Antonio, who will serve as a Vice Chair.
• Jim Smith, Executive Director of ACEC/North Carolina, who will serve as the NAECE representative to the 2020-2021 Executive Committee.

The new officers will join Charles Gozdziewski, Chairman Emeritus of Hardesty & Hannover in New York; John Carrato, President/CEO of Alfred Benesch & Company in Chicago; Keith London, President/CEO of Kennedy/Jenks Consultants in Murrieta, CA.; Kenny Smith, CEO of T. Baker Smith in Houma, LA; and ACEC President/CEO Linda Bauer Darr on the 2020-2021 Executive Committee.

It’s finally here! After six years serving as the Full Service Architect for Phase II (and the Interior Architect of Record on R1) the Greenland USA Metropolis is complete!

These mixed-use, high-rise condominiums and for-lease units have been a much anticipated addition to the Los Angeles skyline, and our team couldn’t be prouder of this achievement!”

The tallest 624’-9” tower, at one of the largest downtown Los Angeles mixed-use high-rise projects, “Metropolis” has finally received its TCO (Temporary Certificate of Occupancy) on December 6th and Substantial Completion on December 13th. HED started the design in December 2013 and it has taken the team a full 6 years to come to this far.

The 56-story luxury residential tower is composed of 685 luxury units with mixture of studios, one and two-bedrooms plus 3 bed-room penthouse units. This completes the entire phase II for the 1,200 unit residential, 62,000sf retail with 1,820 parking podium supporting one of the largest roof garden in downtown Los Angeles. HED will continue to support the client for future retail tenant improvements.

The project is the result of 70 largely LA office staffers plus early support from the Chicago and Detroit offices - making it a perfect example of HED's core values of integrated practice and multi-disciplinary collaboration.

You can read more about Metropolis in Urbanize LA below.

HED is pleased to share that we are starting the new year by recognizing the talented staff that Advance the World of our clients.

These promotions, as well as elevations of several employees to Associate Principal and Associate mark the close of a strong year for the firm. In 2019, HED added over 70 new staff and two new metro locations in Boston and Dallas through mergers with Puchlik Design Associates (PDA) and Integrated Design Group (ID Group), expanding the firm’s reach within all sectors.

“The promotion of these individuals reflects the continued growth of our firm, “says HED CEO Peter Devereaux, FAIA. “As we continue to evolve as an organization, increasing in both size and offerings, the responsibility of these individuals has grown to match, and has been integral to the success of our mission of Advancing the World of our clients and communities. Their commitment to building powerful client relationships, delivering innovative work, and creating positive impact has been, and continues to be, indispensable to our success as a firm.”


Principals
• Dennis Julian, PE, ATD, DCEP – Boston
• Marshall O’Keefe – Los Angeles

Associate Principals
• Joe Raia, AIA, LEED AP – Boston
• Jason Rostar, CM-BIM - Chicago
• Mark Karaba, RA, WELL AP, LEED AP – Detroit
• Kevin Shibata, RA – Los Angeles

Associates
• Melinda Conroy, PE – Boston
• Lindsey Burghgraef, NCIDQ, LEED AP, NCARB – Chicago
• Katherine Kalant, AIA – Chicago
• Bernard Vilza, RA – Chicago
• Megan Crawford, PE - Detroit
• Matt Majchrzak - Detroit
• Eric Mitchell, PE - Detroit
• Carl Williams - Detroit
• Eric Wingelaar, AIA, LEED AP – Detroit
• Catherine Araga, AIA, LEED AP BD+C – Los Angeles
• Niccolo Boldrin – Los Angeles
• Katherine Cong, RA, NCARB – Los Angeles
• Thomas Louie, RA – Los Angeles
• Kyungho (Sean) Oh, LEED Green Assoc. – Los Angeles
• Analisa Olson, LEED AP BD+C, NCIDQ – Los Angeles
• Gerard Palody, PE – Los Angeles
• Maryal Peter – Los Angeles
• Feng Wang, RA – Los Angeles
• Taeko Welty – Los Angeles
• Evan Henderson, RA, LEED AP BD+C, NCARB – San Diego
• Emily Perez, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB – San Diego
• Naveen Govind, LEED AP – San Francisco
• Erin Pleticha – San Francisco
• Clarissa Urquico, LEED Green Assoc. – San Francisco

We hope you will join us in celebrating these individuals who create positive impact in our firm and beyond.

As heard at NOW WHAT Chicago: "Advocacy, Activism, and Alliances in American Architecture" part 1 of 6 - a panel on Chicago's legacy of female and minority architects.

Featuring:
HED Principal Susan King, FAIA, LEED AP BD C
Professor and Author Kathryn Anthony
Smytha Vasan, President of The Illinois Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (I-NOMA)
and Veselka Ivanovic, President of Chicago Women in Architecture (CWA).

What is Your Plan for Planned Power Outages?

On Nov. 18, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) issued its 7th planned power outage notice this year. This outage affected more than 300,000 customers (almost 1,000,000 people) in PG&E’s Northern California service area.

While weather may calm as we head toward winter, we know there will be future outage events, which should drive facility teams to evaluate their preparation.

Our integrated architecture and engineering team at HED has been considering what these outages mean in the larger context of overall building operations and mission resiliency - you can read about some of our takeaways in National Engineering Leader Kenneth Golovko's recent article from Engineering News-Record: "What is Your Plan for Planned Power Outages?"

Some of these considerations include what types of questions facilities leadership should be asking, like:

- Is there any backup power available (generator, on-site solar etc.)?
- Have loads been added to the backup / emergency system versus design?
- Have emergency systems been maintained? e.g. Have the emergency batteries been tested and replaced?
- How much fuel is available for a generator?
- What other services will be affected? Water? Natural Gas? Sewer systems?
- Will your system need a black start generator to engage after a complete power loss?

Kenneth Golovko, P.E., LEED AP BD+C is the National Engineering Practice Leader at integrated architecture and engineering firm HED. A well-recognized, national leader in integrated design, with a particular focus on sustainability, Ken has over 25 years of experience in design and project leadership. If you'd like to continue the conversation about Planned Power Outages, you can reach out to Ken using the link below.

HED is pleased to announce its merger with Puchlik Design Associates, also known as PDA, an award-winning architectural firm specializing in healthcare facility design headquartered in Pasadena, CA.

According to Peter Devereaux, FAIA, Chief Executive Officer of HED, this is a natural step for the firm. “We have partnered with PDA on several occasions and have not only been successful but gratified in the similarity between our two cultures. HED has a large presence in southern California and we have been serving clients in the healthcare sector in other parts of the country for decades. Bringing in PDA was a natural step towards deepening our commitment to southern California and to our expansive set of healthcare clients to provide greater, nationwide service.”

HED leadership recognizes that healthcare remains an important, fast-growing sector throughout the U.S. and beyond. According to a recent report released by the financial analysts at Deloitte, “aging and growing populations, a greater prevalence of chronic diseases, and exponential advances in innovative digital technologies” are all compounding to create a rapidly accelerating growth in this U.S. industry that affects hundreds of millions of people every year

The firm’s further embedding into the California healthcare market is one of several efforts to invest in its healthcare clients in the region and nationally. As Devereaux points out, “Our firm will always seek out methods to provide greater depth and nuance in our services to our clients. This is especially important in technically complex, mission-driven sectors like healthcare, which stand to create the greatest impact for our communities. By bringing PDA into the HED family we are continuing our commitment to design excellence and creating positive impact for our clients and communities. PDA’s decades of knowledge in California, a geography that leads the nation in healthcare trends and standards, combined with our existing depth of talent and national reach will bring tangible benefits to our healthcare clients.”

The PDA leadership and staff will join the HED Los Angeles team in their expanded location in 2020, punctuating the firm’s success and expansion in the region. They join other teams working in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco, bringing the firm’s total staff to over 470 people.

“We believe that this merger is one of complementary cultures,” says Gerry Puchlik, Principal of PDA, “Like PDA, HED advocates that the role of the designer is to directly and positively impact end users, and they seek to produce designs that create this positive impact for clients and communities through deliberate decision making that contributes to care delivery, health, and wellbeing of the people who inhabit these spaces. I can’t imagine a better fit for the future of our talented team.”

Our President Michael Cooper was recently a guest on the Jon Dwoskin THINK Business podcast, speaking directly to client insights and how to value the relationships and information clients provide.

"If I want to understand our markets, I want to talk to our clients," says Michael, "I want to talk to our partners and hear from them. What are you pain points? What are your challenges? What keeps you up at night?"

in this episode, Michael shares insights on several topics, including:

- Client Insights
- Leveraging Research
- Building a "People First" organization
- Mentorship


Jon Dwoskin is a business coach, executive coach, author, speaker and podcast host who provides leadership training, business coaching and executive advising to shift mindsets, recharge batteries and get executives to start thinking, acting and leading like CEOs of their own companies. His podcast, THINK Business, features 1:1 in-depth and soulful conversations with executives, managers and sales people who are making a difference in their companies, communities and in themselves.

You can listen to this and other episodes of his podcast using the link below.

Hear HED's Science & Technology Studio Leader Louis Hartman's take on "Designing for a Forensic Crime Laboratory," in this free webinar from Lab Manager! The piece also features Ken Mohr, Sr. Forensic Planner/Programmer of HED's joint-venture DBA, Crime Lab Design.

Forensic crime laboratories are unique in the sense that these facilities house laboratories of all sciences. Biology labs are used by pathologist to examine decedents or to detect possible body fluids on evidence and perform DNA analysis. Chemistry labs are used by chemists to test controlled dangerous substances and drugs or perform latent print collection and identification. Cyber labs examine computers, cell phones, and other devices for intelligence information evidence. Physical labs perform ballistics tests and conduct firearm and toolmark examinations. There are a lot of moving parts. And these sciences are ever evolving, forcing the forensic industry to evolve and crime lab facilities to expand as well.

Additionally, each crime lab facility presents a unique set of design considerations. From an architectural and engineering perspective, no cookie-cutter solution exists when creating forensic facilities. There are specialized considerations and unique challenges of forensic laboratories, including evidence intake, chain of custody, and storage; proper ventilation and contamination/odor control; changing technologies / methodologies; current accreditation criteria; operational efficiency; security; and health and safety. Ultimately, a specialized process of programming, planning, design, and construction of these facilities require integrated architectural, engineering, and lab planning solutions.

With all of these different components, how do a design team, laboratorians, and forensics lab managers address planning for a new crime laboratory sufficient for today and well into the future?

This session explores:

- A scenario of planning for a 50,000 to 150,000 sq. ft. crime lab facility
- The role and involvement of end users
- Organization of the planning team
- Architectural and engineering solutions
- Cost to design and build a forensic laboratory

Listen to the full piece using the link below.

HED, along with Herrero Builders, a San Francisco-based general contractor specializing in IPD and Lean construction, are pleased to announce the completion of the South Wing Renovation of the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center hospital campus. The team used a LEAN Integrated Delivery Process to design and construct a brand-new Dietary Center, a new MRI Suite, and a new Doctor's Lounge within one of the campus' most visited buildings.

This 37,000 square foot ground floor renovation is the second of a series of projects undertaken by the joint team as a part of a large facilities Master Plan developed by HED for Sutter Health, focused on three distinct areas of improvement: seismic compliance, service line enhancements and infrastructure improvement. The facilities master plan, completed in 2018, ultimately organized and sequenced over 70 individual projects to be undertaken across three campuses over the course of the next decade.

"As we looked at the varied needs across the campuses, we knew one thing clearly – we never wanted to undergo a renovation project in the same space twice and wanted to make these renovation disruptions as minimal as possible," said Shurid Rahman, a Project Manager with Sutter Health.

The $30 million ground level renovation project incorporates several different uses in the South Wing of the Alta Bates Campus building. Given an expanded need for MRI imaging, an MRI suite was added through the project with significant inpatient holding space to accommodate a growing stroke program.

In addition, to support the growing patient and visitor population, the campus dietary space was expanded and reimagined to provide enhanced food preparation and delivery and an elevated dining experience for staff, patients, and guests. Finally, to support the intensified efforts to recruit Doctors amidst California's growing population, a comfortable, well-lit Doctor's Lounge was added within the space as well.

"The interior renovation of this building incorporated a complete reconfiguration of uses to adapt to the changing needs of the Sutter Health organization," said Brett Paloutzian, Principal with HED. "Through our integrated partnership with Herrero Builders and Sutter Health, we were able to deliver this complex renovation project utilizing LEAN construction principals and met Sutter Health's goals for the project's schedule and budget."