Collins Woerman

Collins Woerman, which changed its name this year from CNA Architecture, has grown by 40 percent, from 60 to 85 employees. Along with the name change, the ownership structure has changed with Arlan Collins’ and Mark Woerman’s buyout of their last remaining partner.

Gross fee volume has stayed ahead of staff growth, with an increase of between 45 and 50 percent.

Principals are looking to expand staff by another 10 to 15 people over the next few months to accommodate projects that are committed to move forward. The firm has plans to open at least one market-focused branch office in California next year. Collins Woerman is expanding in the retail and mixed-use market. Traditional markets for the firm’s design, planning and interior architecture services are in corporate, commercial, health care, life sciences and technology markets.

“The single greatest challenge we face, like every other growing architecture practice, is finding qualified personnel in this tight market,” said principal Mark Woerman.

The region’s fierce competition for developable or re-developable properties is a persistent trend, he said. “The definition of ‘close-in’ real estate continues to expand outside the business cores. As time frames for approvals lengthen and design and construction time frames constrict, the architects and contractors who succeed are those who find faster and better ways to respond.”

One happy trend, according to Woerman, is that clients, seeking to stand out from their competitors, are elevating quality of design on their lists of priorities, to a position equal to or even above cost and time. “Our technology-driven prosperity is generating one-of-a-kind projects that are making significant contributions to our region’s cultural, educational and institutional well-being,” said Woerman. “The role of private individuals in this endeavor is at an all-time high.”

The firm has seen a growing demand for due diligence assistance and an increasing focus on infill and redevelopment projects. Finally, “green” buildings are no longer merely experimental, but are emerging as mainstream solutions, according to Woerman.

He said that on the down side, “It’s clear both our local and national economies are experiencing a reality check.” In the face of dot-com failures, the overall weakening of tech stocks, and the tightening of credit markets that have been fueling the tech gold rush, he said the firm is seeing projected space requirements snapping back into a far more conservative range.

According to Woerman, there are two especially prominent deficits that threaten to restrain growth: a lack of available, “close in” housing for the region’s work force and an ever-widening gulf between the supply of and demand for educated and trained workers.