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 based on categories such as communication, work-life balance, employee education, diversity, recognition, retention and more. HED is proud to have won this award for 17 consecutive years, and we look forward to continuing the tradition of caring for our people so they can continue to create positive impact in our communities!

Developers and companies have increasingly been exploring efforts to convert existing commercial office space into laboratories. A trend driven in large part by the glut in empty offices and the corresponding demand surge in the life sciences sector due to the pandemic.

These kinds of projects are particularly fraught with challenges and high costs because of the many highly specialized needs and requirements for a life sciences workplace.

San Francisco Business Times has gathered industry experts including HED's own Dan Ringler to discuss some essential considerations for a successful office-to-lab retrofit:

Early start: Engage an architect and structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers early in the process to get an informed look at existing conditions.

Floor-to-floor heights: A clear height of 14 to 15 feet typically is a good start. Also a critical issue: the floor’s weight-bearing capability. A lab floor needs to be able to handle 100 to 125 pounds per square foot. In contrast, the threshold for a regular office is 60 to 75 pounds per square foot.

Air, electrical and other mechanical systems: air flow in a lab needs to be robust. Lab spaces require 100% outside air, Suter said. In contrast, a typical office uses recirculated air.

Delivery and loading concerns: A dedicated freight elevator is vital for materials coming and going - no commingling can occur due to contamination.

Controlling costs: Understand the areas that drive costs and where potential savings can be found. Total conversion costs can vary depending on the condition of a building, existing infrastructure, the type of life sciences work to be housed and other factors. But many conversions would run between $200 and $450 per square foot, according to Suter.

In comparison, according to Ringler, typical office tenant improvements can range between $50 and $75 per square foot for second-generation space but much higher for first-generation product depending on the client’s needs.

Read the full article published in San Francisco Business Times in the link below. Please note a subscription may be required.

HED is pleased to announce its recent partnership with architecture and urban design firm Nardi Associates LLP on a new housing development in San Francisco, CA. Together, the two firms have created an independent entity, NH Design Collaborative LLP, to seamlessly collaborate on the new Palmilia By The Bay project.

Nardi Associates LLP is the design author of Palmilia By The Bay, as well as the architect of record. HED will be assisting in the execution, leveraging its experience within the City of San Francisco and its large bench of technical and staffing resources.

The partnership was formed to best serve this highly complex mixed-use housing project, but its roots evolved through our initial exploration of wanting to collaborate on the Olympic Tower project, currently under development in downtown Los Angeles.

HED is excited to share that Lathrop was awarded the second place Richard H. Driehaus Foundation award for excellence in community design at the recent annual Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards!

We are proud to have our work considered alongside some of the city’s best in community investment, development and design, and very gratified to see this unique and important community project win yet another award.

Congratulations to our teammates: Chicago Housing Authority, Related Midwest, Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation, Heartland Alliance, JGMA, MICHAEL VAN VALKENBURGH ASSOCIATES, INC., McGuire Igleski & Associates, Inc., TERRA Engineering, Ltd., dbHMS, Farr Associates Architecture & Urban Design, Bowa Construction, UJAMAA Construction and the others who made this project possible.

Development in San Diego continues to be on the rise. A strategic growth market for California and the country at large, HED's recent merger has spring boarded the San Diego office into the local business journal Top Ten Architecture firms list! A member of the AEC community in San Diego since the early 2000's, HED's commercial, education, and life science design sectors continue to create a large impact within the community.

HED is thrilled to announce that four of our professionals in San Diego have been named in the San Diego Business Journal as “Women of Influence in Architecture 2021!"

The annual Women of Influence series honors individuals who embody values of mentorship, leadership, generosity, and creating positive impact within their communities through design.

Congratulations to Landscape Architecture Leader Heather Foley, Sector Leader Jennette La Quire AIA, LEED AP ID+C, Sector Leader Melina Aluwi AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, and Interior Designer Tracy Morran NCIDQ, CID, LEED ASSOC.! Thank you for living your values and embodying our firm's mission of creating a positive impact!

View the full feature of every Woman of Influence in Architecture using the link below!

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.”