PASADENA, Calif.—Architecture and engineering firm HED, which has offices in Los Angeles, has merged with healthcare design firm Puchlik Design Associates (PDA), which is located in the city of Pasadena, just north of central Los Angeles. The two companies announced the merger at the start of the new year.

Leadership staff from PDA will join HED’s Los Angeles team this year as the two firms work jointly on creating an expanded office space.

In a statement, Peter Devereaux, HED’s CEO, said that because his firm has partnered with PDA on multiple projects in the past, he recognized a similarity in the cultures of the two firms that would well together under a joint operation.

“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,” Devereaux said in his statement. “Bringing in PDA was a natural step towards [providing] greater nationwide service.”

Added Gerry Puchlik, principle 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 well-being of the people who inhabit these spaces.

“I can’t imagine a better fit for the future of our talented team.”

HED’s merger with PDA is part of the firm’s designs to increase its presence in the California healthcare market. The firm already has nearly 500 employees working at four offices in California (Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco) as well as other locations in Boston, Detroit, Dallas and Chicago.

HED has rapidly expanded from only four offices just a few years ago. The merger will give the firm its ninth office location, which will be sited in Pasadena, the city that famously hosts the annual New Year’s Day Rose Parade.

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