Firms on the move – September 2008

The following civil engineering firms recently announced office and service expansions, mergers, and acquisitions.

TBE Group opened a new office in Sarasota, Fla., and named Larry R. Mau, P.E., to lead the office. TBE has been providing transportation planning, design, and construction engineering services to Manatee County and bridge engineering services in Sarasota County for a number of years.

Kennedy/Jenks Consultants appointed Vice President and Principal Engineer James W. Graydon to head the firm’s newly created Federal Programs group. The Federal Programs group provides a focused corporate perspective to ensure that federal projects benefit from the shared expertise in all the firm’s offices.

GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., relocated into expanded offices in Providence, R.I. The new office space will accommodate staff of more than 50 professionals and allows for expanded staff as the firm continues its growth in Rhode Island.

Hatch Mott MacDonald (HMM) acquired Higgins Associates Civil & Traffic Engineers, a Gilroy, Calif., firm specializing in traffic demand forecasting, capacity and operational analyses, speed study surveys, accident and safety analyses, parking demand and supply analyses, and traffic count programs. Higgins Associates’ services expand the capabilities currently provided by HMM’s Transportation Planning Department.

Jacques Whitford Ltd. acquired The Sheltair Group, a Vancouver, Canada-based consulting firm with a national scope and a 25-year history of taking an integrated and sustainable approach to urban planning, building engineering, and resource management.

CH2M HILL was named the largest company ever to make the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the United States. The company was ranked in the top spot for the Top 100 Inc. 5,000 Companies by revenue and by gross dollars of growth.

KCI Technologies Inc., a multi-disciplined consulting engineering firm with offices in the Northeast, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic, acquired McCoy Associates, Inc. McCoy’s 38 employees will continue serving the Ohio Department of Transportation and various state, municipal, and private-sector clients from offices in Akron and Warren, Ohio.

S&ME, Inc., a Raleigh, N.C.-based engineering and environmental company, is celebrating its 35th anniversary. The firm opened its doors with just seven employees in a small building in North Raleigh on Aug. 21, 1973. Today, the firm employs 900 in 22 offices throughout the Southeast.

Mark Thomas & Company, Inc., formed a strategic business partnership with MTK Engineers, Inc., in Orange County, Calif. that will allow the firms to combine engineering and technical resources to better serve transportation and public works clients throughout California.

Eisman & Russo, Inc., a provider in transportation engineering and construction engineering inspection (CEI) services, opened a new regional office in Ft. Myers, Fla., to service growing demand for transportation engineering and CEI services in Southwest Florida. The firm also opened field offices in Indian River and Dade Counties, Fla.

URS Corporation acquired most of the assets of Tryck Nyman Hayes, Inc. (TNH), an engineering firm headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska, with a staff of approximately 60 engineers, landscape architects, and surveyors. URS says that TNH’s experience in the design of highways, bridges, ports, and rail systems will compliment its existing Alaska capabilities in environmental planning and design.