Member News

MRB Group President & CEO Ryan T. Colvin, P.E., and HBT Architects Managing Partner Trevor Harrison, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, have announced their decision to merge the two respective firms.   Leadership teams have reached an agreement which is expected to be finalized in October of 2022.

“MRB Group has continually evolved to meet the growing needs of our clients,” said Colvin.  “This merger is an opportunity for the clients and staff of both MRB Group and HBT to benefit,” Colvin continued.

While MRB Group’s Architecture team has worked with numerous municipal and commercial clients to provide programming and design throughout New York State, Colvin says the merger will provide a new level of design expertise and expand MRB Group’s architectural services to include the healthcare, higher education and hospitality industries.  MRB Group’s professional engineering support for day-to-day operations like water and wastewater treatment, public works services, and local government planning will remain unchanged.

According to Harrison, the addition of engineering support to current architectural and interior design services will enhance the level of design that HBT has been providing for over 20 years.

“We are excited to join with MRB Group,” Harrison stated.  “Merging with a Rochester-based firm with a similar focus on client services allows us to continue providing clients with the people and culture that they have come to know and trust.

“In fact, there will be new services available to our current team that will allow us to increase our responsiveness,” he stated.  “Merging with MRB Group provides us additional capabilities which can help our clients address many more of the challenges they currently face,” he said.

Colvin said the merger made sense because of the firm’s similar business models.

“We both have traditions that put clients first and regard them as valued partners.  I am confident they will be immediately comfortable with the transition to a combined team, because it will only add to the relationship we share,” he said.

“Our clients will experience an immediate benefit from merging the expertise of two accomplished teams.  They will also experience many long-term benefits as the synergy creates a unique, powerful and magnetic environment that will attract the best and brightest new talent,” Colvin stated.

The merger will extend MRB Group’s presence into a sixth state, Michigan, continuing a trend of remarkable growth over the past 12 years.  The firm currently has nine offices in New York, Texas and South Carolina, and recently completed a significant expansion of its headquarters at the Culver Road Armory in the City of Rochester.  The HBT staff will remain working in current locations in Rochester’s Neighborhood of the Arts and in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

“We are focused on creating a collaborative environment for our project teams, while utilizing technology to make sure everyone can easily interact and readily access the professional expertise of colleagues within the firm,” Colvin stated.

Colvin and Harrison both indicated that the two firms’ Architecture teams will be fully integrated with each other, as well as with the firm’s engineering and site design professionals.

“We’re combining dynamic and award-winning teams of people,” Harrison stated.  “Both firms have a reputation for providing creative and client-focused design solutions, and we have each earned tremendous respect within our profession for doing so.  Because of this shared commitment to professional integrity and client service, we can continue to make a positive impact on the people and communities we serve,” he concluded.

MRB Group has served the greater Rochester and Central New York areas for 95 years, providing engineering, architecture and municipal planning as well as operational support services since 1927.  For more information, visit mrbgroup.com.