Barge Design Solutions, based in Nashville, announced on Tuesday that it acquired Environmental Consulting & Design, headquartered in Gainesville.  

Environmental Consulting & Design (EC&D) started in 1994 and has worked on projects that total 25,000 acres across Florida. The business specializes in wetland mitigation banking.  

Currently, Sarah Nelson serves as owner, and Carl Salafrio is the founder and CEO. 

In a press release, Nelson said company priorities like collaboration, responsibility and innovation first drew the teams together.  

“By joining forces with Barge’s talented team, we are able to take our work to another level, helping more organizations, preserving more land, and broadening our overall impact in Florida and beyond,” Nelson said. 

Bob Higgins, president of Barge Design Solutions, said ecology services have become an integral part in the company’s work and vision. Florida as a whole has, Higgins said, stands as a leader in enhancing and protecting natural resources.  

“EC&D is a highly respected firm in the state providing those services,” Higgins said in a press release. “Our coming together is significant in that it will allow their influence to expand over Barge’s entire footprint and improve upon our ability as a team to strengthen our ecology and environmental position across the Southeast.”   

EC&D will immediately change to adopt the Barge Design Solutions name. The company, founded in the 1950s, said the acquisition advances its strategic presence in Florida and further solidifies its hold in the Southeast.  

The firm was listed as one of the best architecture firms of 2023 by Modern Healthcare, rising to 31st from 33rd in 2022. The company worked on expansions at three separate HCA Florida facilities in 2022.