HDR and CUH2A to Merge

The combined company will employ nearly 1,700 architecture, engineering, and planning staff in more than 40 locations worldwide.

HDR Architecture, one of the world's leading health care design firms, and CUH2A, the world's largest science and technology design firm, have announced their intent to merge.

The combined company will employ nearly 1,700 architecture, engineering, and planning staff in more than 40 locations worldwide. With complementary portfolios across the academic, government, and corporate science and technology market sectors, the firm will deliver integrated services to specialty areas including biomedical research and development, academic research, biocontainment, nanotechnology, vivaria, clean rooms, and forensics.

"CUH2A's science and technology portfolio provides immediate growth and diversity to HDR's practice while allowing us to penetrate even further into the health care markets in the northeastern and southeastern U.S. as well as the Middle East and other critical locations," said HDR Architecture President Merle Bachman.

Reflecting on the R&D industry, CUH2A President Scott Butler said, "The world of science is changing. Our clients are crossing global boundaries and working across disciplines to create the big breakthroughs in research. The CUH2A and HDR alliance puts us in the best position to enable these trends. We will bring together unmatched knowledge in every area of science research for every part of the world."

Once the union is completed in June, the science and technology groups of each company will merge into one business unit. Executives from both companies will form an integrated management team for the combined science and technology unit, which will be led by Butler.