A/E Merger for Central Virginia

Today it was announced that Hankins and Anderson has merged with CMSS Architects to become H&A Engineering & Architecture--further increasing their presence in both the Richmond and Virginia Beach areas.

According to a colleague of mine, LaTonya Whitaker, who is their Creative Marketing & Brand Strategist at H&A, their team is working hard to develop a consolidated image that reflects the new company. The unveiling of their new brand should begin later this month.

The news is great for both firms as they each have developed significant market shares in both federal and commercial work. While H&A worked consistently on engineering design for federal government/military clients, CMSS was more involved on the private side, providing architectural services including urban planning.

This move certainly helps H&A diversify their market share as well as add a solid staff of in-house architects to their team. The interesting thing is that it comes on the back-end of a very turbulent year for the private sector. However, from what I've been reading/seeing/hearing this year seems to be doing fairly well so far and all signs would point to a nice rebuilding year. This only helps to confirm that hypothesis.

In my opinion, it is an incredibly smart move for H&A to place a few eggs in other baskets to further develop and enhance their business--particularly when you're getting some great eggs at a great price.

Read the story in the Virginia Pilot here.