MHBC Planning Urban Design & Landscape Architecture (MHBC) is a company that has been supporting the University of Waterloo, the Faculty of Environment, the School of Planning and its students for nearly 50 years.
MHBC was founded in 1973 by planning alumnus, Ian MacNaughton, on the vision to create a planning firm built on innovation, integrity, strategic thinking, problem-solving and excellent service to clients and the community. Today, that vision is a reality. The company has grown to over 100 employees working in six offices across Ontario providing urban planning, resource management, urban design and landscape architecture, and earning a reputation as trusted experts.
Their continued success can be attributed to their multi-disciplinary approach and knowledgeable and experienced team of professionalism, many of whom are fellow School of Planning graduates. Since its inception, MHBC has hired hundreds of coop students, undergraduate and graduate student alumni. "Over 70% of our partners and associates are University of Waterloo graduates," says MHBC President, Brian Zeman, a '98 planning alumnus himself, "and some of them started with the firm as coop students.”
MHBC’s employees are dedicated to positively impacting people living within the community as demonstrated through their professionalism sustainable initiatives, and skill-building while increasing public trust.
In addition to contributing valuable coop experience, MHBC employees have continually stepped up to support Waterloo students by funding scholarships, providing guest lectures that bring the application of industry knowledge to the classroom, sponsoring students to attend the annual University of Waterloo Planning Alumni of Toronto (UWPAT) gala dinner and mentoring students at leadership events and through the ENV Connect networking platform. This past year, MHBC members created the flagship MHBC Black and Indigenous scholarship at the School of Planning.
Their commitment to giving back in various ways has shown an unwavering culture of innovation, integrity, strategic thinking, problem-solving, and service. MHBC and its employees have been recipients of numerous industry awards over the years, including recently being only one of two private firms named as one of the Top 10 Employers of Registered Professional Planners (RPPs) in Ontario in the OPPI journal.