flexiblefullpage -

HORIZONTV FEATURING BD+C: WATCH EPISODES ON DEMAND AT HORIZONTV

Menu View Full Menu
Subscribe Here
billboard - default
interstitial1 - interstitial
catfish1 - bottom
Currently Reading

Mergers and acquisitions transform engineering sector [2013 Giants 300 Report]

Mergers and acquisitions transform engineering sector [2013 Giants 300 Report]

Merger and acquisition deals by MEP, commissioning, structural, and specialty engineering firms were up 14% nationwide in 2012 compared with 2011.

By Julie Higginbotham, Senior Editor | July 15, 2013
Planning for extreme weather events is an increasingly important aspect of engineering work. In a large-scale example, structural engineer Walter P Moore collaborated with architect Populous, wind engineer RWDI, and Hunt Construction to create a retractable-roof park for the Miami Marlins. During storms, roof panels can be positioned in a not-quite-closed manner to reduce the sail effect. The 36,000-seat facility meets the Miami-Dade building code, which required wind resistance of up to 146 mph. Photo: Christy Radecic
Continue Reading
Merger and acquisition deals by MEP, commissioning, structural, and specialty engineering firms were up 14% nationwide in 2012 compared with 2011, according to consulting firm Morrissey Goodale (morrisseygoodale.com). Since the beginning of 2013, the consultant has reported more than 60 M&A transactions involving North American engineering firms, including interstate, intrastate, and international deals.
 
As economic recovery generates new business, engineering and engineering/architecture firms continue to seek M&A targets that offer an expanded employee base, a geographic springboard, or simply a broader mix of skills. A typical example: the November acquisition of Energy Ace, a Georgia-based commissioning and sustainability specialist, to beef up the green expertise of global engineering, architecture, design-build, surveying, and geospatial solutions firm Merrick & Company.
 
During the recession, multiple architecture and architecture/engineering firms also sought to broaden their client appeal by going on an engineering talent hunt. A third of AIA member firms now identify as “multidisciplinary,” including engineering services, compared with about 25% a decade ago, according to Morrissey Goodale.
 
SSOE Group is among the companies capitalizing on the volatile business climate. “We closed on three M&A transactions in 2012, so our emphasis in 2013 is on integration and realizing the synergies from the combined companies,” says CEO Tony Damon, AIA, LEED AP. “Our merger with Evergreen EDC in December should be transformative, allowing us to diversify our business and leverage our combined resources for new clients, in new markets and geographic locations.”
 

TOP ENGINEERING FIRMS

 
2012 Total Revenue ($)
1 Fluor $221,231,200
2 Arup $149,738,587
3 Affiliated Engineers $105,503,000
4 WSP USA $105,362,352
5 KPFF Consulting Engineers $91,000,000
6 Syska Hennessy Group $82,097,502
7 Henderson Engineers $63,485,775
8 Smith Seckman Reid $52,919,312
9 KJWW Engineering Consultants $51,092,154
10 Vanderweil Engineers $50,552,200

TOP ENGINEERING/ARCHITECTURE FIRMS

 
2012 Total Revenue ($)
1 Jacobs Engineering Group $2,715,210,000
2 AECOM Technology Corp. $1,610,390,000
3 Parsons Brinckerhoff $337,900,000
4 URS Corp. $314,266,757
5 Buro Happold Consulting Engineers $194,220,000
6 Burns & McDonnell $160,645,000
7 Thornton Tomasetti $124,575,393
8 Science Applications International Corp. $120,249,686
9 Merrick & Co. $103,998,000
10 SSOE Group $103,708,918
Damon credits a rebound in business from manufacturing and automotive clients, especially in the Southeast, for some of SSOE’s bullish attitude. Other hot prospects identified by Damon include the semiconductor industry in the West, and international markets, especially China, India, Mexico, and Brazil.
 
Steven Strauss, President of Glumac, reports good business from domestic micorelectronics companies and from Chinese clients, some of whom are developing entire new cities. Strauss has also seen an uptick in medical office buildings, mission critical, hospitality, and mixed-use commercial. “Projects that have been on the back burner are now re-emerging, and developer clients are more able to get financing through banks and institutional investors.”
 
For Bergmann Associates, the retail sector has been a bright spot. “The growth has been primarily with corporate retailers—big boxes, grocery stores, banks, restaurants—in New England and the Mid-Atlantic region,” says CEO Thomas C. Mitchell, PE. Property development companies in the East and Midwest have also been hiring the firm, and Bergmann has won new clients in science and technology, replacing some who have stopped building. The company recently added personnel in Michigan, Ohio, and the Carolinas.
 
In the West, Spectrum Engineers is getting a steady flow of work from retail, mission critical, and private commercial development, as well as some government clients. However, K-12 is “slow,” according to President and Principal Electrical Engineer Dave Wesemann, PE, LEED AP, ATD.
 
Considerable hustle is still required, even as the market improves. “Business continues to be challenging overall in the Southeast,” says Mark A. Gelfo, PE, LEED AP BD+C, LEED AP O+M, CxA, EMP, Director of Business Development and Sustainability at TLC Engineering for Architecture. “Competition remains high, and clients want more and more for less and less. During the past few years we have made significant initiatives in energy services, federal—though that market’s definitely on a downward track—mission critical, and hospitality, while maintaining our historically major markets such as healthcare, commercial office, and higher education.”
 
Like many engineering pros, Gelfo expects energy services—from commissioning, auditing, and retro-Cx to high-performance MEP design—to generate significant revenues for the foreseeable future. Spectrum’s Wesemann says advances in green technology, including LED lighting and variable-refrigerant flow HVAC, are persuading some clients to seek a more integrated delivery model to take advantage of all the potential savings.
 
According to Kenneth G. Diehl, Jr., PE, Senior Vice President at Smith Seckman Reid, building owners increasingly understand the high long-term ROI of green upgrades—a trend that can only be good news for engineers. “The biggest mover in this area is currently existing buildings that are using retrocommissioning to significantly lower utility costs,” he says. “The market is continuing to move toward a model that supports high-performance building operations.”
 

Read BD+C's full Giants 300 Report

Tags

Related Stories

| Aug 11, 2010

Polshek Partnership unveils design for University of North Texas business building

New York-based architect Polshek Partnership today unveiled its design scheme for the $70 million Business Leadership Building at the University of North Texas in Denton. Designed to provide UNT’s 5,400-plus business majors the highest level of academic instruction and professional training, the 180,000-sf facility will include an open atrium, an internet café, and numerous study and tutoring rooms—all designed to help develop a spirit of collaboration and team-oriented focus.

| Aug 11, 2010

University of Florida aiming for nation’s first LEED Platinum parking garage

If all goes as planned, the University of Florida’s new $20 million Southwest Parking Garage Complex in Gainesville will soon become the first parking facility in the country to earn LEED Platinum status. Designed by the Boca Raton office of PGAL to meet criteria for the highest LEED certification category, the garage complex includes a six-level, 313,000-sf parking garage (927 spaces) and an attached, 10,000-sf, two-story transportation and parking services office building.

| Aug 11, 2010

Kohler, Lowe's, three others honored as EPA WaterSense Partners of the Year

| Aug 11, 2010

Draft NIST report on Cowboys practice facility collapse released for public comment

A fabric-covered, steel frame practice facility owned by the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys collapsed under wind loads significantly less than those required under applicable design standards, according to a report released today for public comment by the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

| Aug 11, 2010

Callison, MulvannyG2 among nation's largest retail design firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report

A ranking of the Top 75 Retail Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants

| Aug 11, 2010

New York chapter of Professional Women in Construction present Developers Forum, hosted by New York Post's Lois Weiss

| Aug 11, 2010

USGBC honors Brad Pitt's Make It Right New Orleans as the ‘largest and greenest single-family community in the world’

U.S. Green Building Council President, CEO and Founding Chair Rick Fedrizzi today declared that the neighborhood being built by Make It Right New Orleans, the post-Katrina housing initiative launched by actor Brad Pitt, is the “largest and greenest community of single-family homes in the world” at the annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York.

| Aug 11, 2010

AIA report estimates up to 270,000 construction industry jobs could be created if the American Clean Energy Security Act is passed

With the encouragement of Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV), the American Institute of Architects (AIA) conducted a study to determine how many jobs in the design and construction industry could be created if the American Clean Energy Security Act (H.R. 2454; also known as the Waxman-Markey Bill) is enacted.

| Aug 11, 2010

Architect Michael Graves to be inducted into the N.J. Hall of Fame

Architect Michael Graves of Princeton, N.J., being inducted into the N.J. Hall of Fame.

| Aug 11, 2010

Modest rebound in Architecture Billings Index

Following a drop of nearly three points, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) nudged up almost two points in February. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending.

boombox1 - default
boombox2 -

Top Articles

native1 -

More In Category

Mass Timber

Bjarke Ingels Group designs a mass timber cube structure for the University of Kansas

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and executive architect BNIM have unveiled their design for a new mass timber cube structure called the Makers’ KUbe for the University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design. A six-story, 50,000-sf building for learning and collaboration, the light-filled KUbe will house studio and teaching space, 3D-printing and robotic labs, and a ground-level cafe, all organized around a central core.

halfpage1 -

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021