Firms on the move – August 2009

Civil engineering firms announced the following mergers, acquisitions, expansions and office openings during the last few months.

URS Corporation acquired LopezGarcia Group, Inc. Headquartered in Dallas, LopezGarcia has a staff of 200 professionals in five Texas offices and is focused primarily on the state and local infrastructure market. URS said the acquisition will better enable it to serve state and local government clients on projects throughout Texas and expands URS’ resources by adding LopezGarcia’s significant presence in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, which will complement URS’ operations in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.

AMEC opened its first office in Wyoming. The office, located in Laramie, specializes in water-related engineering and environmental permitting services. Specific services include natural urban waterway design, flood control (hydraulic and hydrologic modeling, master planning, and floodplain mapping), municipal stormwater management (design and construction management, inventories and mapping, financing, and utilities), environmental regulatory compliance (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permitting, spill prevention and response, and stormwater permitting), low-impact development design, and wastewater permitting and design.

AMEC also acquired Geomatrix Consultants, Inc., from its owner-managers for $85 million. Geomatrix is a diversified technical consulting and engineering firm headquartered in Oakland, Calif., that employs 500 engineers, scientists, and other professionals in 18 offices across the United States and one office in Canada. Geomatrix offers specialized environmental, geotechnical, and water resources services to clients in the oil and gas, industrial, mining, and municipal sectors.

Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., acquired R. Stuart Royer & Associates, a Richmond, Va.-based company specializing in water/wastewater planning, design, and construction administration services.

Sitek Corporation, which specializes in total site development, civil engineering, construction management, and design build services, moved to a new location in Orlando, Fla., and launched a sister company, Sitek Design Group. The new group will focus on design-build projects.

Falcon Engineering, a Cary, N.C.-based engineering and construction management firm incorporated earlier this year, merged with Tierra North Carolina, Inc., a geotechnical and materials testing firm of 16 years based in Raleigh, N.C. The new organization retains the name Falcon Engineering.

Fehr & Peers acquired Mirai Associates, Inc., in Kirkland, Wash. Mirai Associates is a 20-person firm specializing in transportation planning, traffic engineering, signal design, and travel demand modeling. This acquisition effectively creates the first Fehr & Peers office in the Pacific Northwest.