Pro Forma Architecture, a 17-year-old Dallas-based firm, has merged with PGAL, an international architectural and engineering firm based in Houston and operating nine other offices in the U.S. and one in Mexico City.
Founded in 1946, PGAL employs more than 200 architects, planners, engineers, and designers. It has a wide-ranging portfolio in office, transportation, hospitality, education, healthcare, recreation, and government. (PGAL just got the okay from the city council at College Station, Texas, for a $1.96 million contract to design a new police station that will sit on 12 acres of city-owned property.)
Pro Forma specializes in designing municipal projects like libraries, senior centers, and fire and police stations. Through this merger, PGAL will expand Pro Forma’s expertise for its growing client list in Texas’s north and central regions.
“Now, there’s no projects we can’t pursue.”
– Jeff Bulla, Co-founder of Pro Forma
Jeff Bulla, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Pro Forma’s co-founder, is staying on as Principal at PGAL’s Dallas office. He and his company’s four employees moved into PGAL’s office in January.
The 54-year-old Bulla tells BD+C that he began to question Pro Forma’s ability to compete as an independent firm in North Texas when the last recession was raging in 2008-2009. “The big firms started fishing in my pond and going after everything in sight,” he recalls. That made it harder for Pro Forma to get projects and offer competitive packages.
Bulla says he’d been approached by a number of firms about merger opportunities over the past 18 months, but nothing came of those conversations until PGAL came calling last October. At the time PGAL was going through a leadership transition in its Dallas office, which has been around since the early 1990s.
Pro Forma was on PGAL’s radar, says Bulla, because the two firms had competed for projects in several Texas markets, including PGAL’s home base in Houston. “They decided to look for a firm that already had an established reputation,” says Bulla.
He says he was attracted to PGAL’s culture and values, particularly its requirement that all of its principals be actively involved in projects. “I was impressed when I heard that the CEO had an office on the production floor.”
Bulla notes that PGAL’s operations are cloud-based, making collaboration among its offices around the country much easier and more likely. He also singles out PGAL’s generous employee-benefits package, and the company’s commitment to maintaining a stable workforce by shifting jobs among its offices depending on workload, as contributing factors to his decision to sell Pro Forma.
“Now, there’s no projects we can’t pursue,” says Bulla, who is especially eager to take advantage of corporate relocations to Texas. To bolster the Dallas office, he says “we’re looking for talent,” specifically “creative interns proficient in Revit.” He intends to add project architects and managers, and is looking longer term toward possibly adding an engineering principal to the office.
Related Stories
| Feb 20, 2012
Comment period for update to USGBC's LEED Green Building Program now open
This third draft of LEED has been refined to address technical stringency and rigor, measurement and performance tools, and an enhanced user experience.
| Feb 20, 2012
Sto Corp. announces new technical director for Canada
Edgar will have full responsibility of specifications, details, website technical content, testing and approvals, and will support the Canada sales team.
| Feb 20, 2012
GAF introduces web portal for architects and specifiers
The new portal offers a clean look with minimal clutter to make it easier to find the technical information and product data that architects need.
| Feb 20, 2012
All Steel names Breagy director of metro New York
Breagy is responsible for overseeing this region’s sales team while strategically coordinating the sales efforts of Allsteel dealers and representatives in the tri-state area.
| Feb 17, 2012
Tremco Inc. headquarters achieves LEED Gold certification
Changes were so extensive that the certification is for new construction and not for renovation; officially, the building is LEED-NC.
| Feb 17, 2012
MacInnis joins Gilbane board of directors
MacInnis is the chairman and recently retired CEO of Connecticut-based EMCOR Group, Inc.
| Feb 16, 2012
Gain greater agility and profitability with ArchiCAD BIM software
White paper was written with the sole purpose of providing accurate, reliable information about critical issues related to BIM and what ArchiCAD with advanced technology such as the GRAPHISOFT BIM Server provide as an answer to address these issues.
| Feb 16, 2012
TLC Engineering for Architecture opens Chattanooga office
TLC Engineering for Architecture provides mechanical, electrical, structural, plumbing, fire protection, communication, technology, LEED, commissioning and energy auditing services.
| Feb 16, 2012
Summit Design + Build begins build-out for Emmi Solutions in Chicago
The new headquarters will total 20,455 sq. ft. and feature a loft-style space with exposed masonry and mechanical systems, 15 foot clear ceilings, two large rooftop skylights and private offices with full glass partition walls.