While regional demand remains stable, local growth is dictated by unique environmental and regulatory pressures. “Overall, the region is stable, and we’re seeing activity in each of these states,” says Sarah McIlroy, regional leader for the US West at Stantec.

In Washington and Oregon, business is picking up, she says, because new government regulations are forcing cities to clean up their water systems and filter out toxic “forever chemicals” (PFAS). For example, Stantec is designing the Northwest’s largest PFAS treatment facility for Vancouver, Wash.

WSP served as the design engineer for the 125-mile Ten West Link Transmission Project, which connects electrical grids and brings renewable energy across Arizona and California.
Photo courtesy WSP

Further south, droughts and water shortages are forcing firms to focus on different types of projects. “In California and Arizona, our water group is working on water reuse projects—an ongoing effort across many Western states in light of climate change and water supply issues,” McIlroy says.

Water isn’t the only surging sector. While traditional commercial office work is flat, tech, public infrastructure and energy sectors are booming.

“Power and energy are the clear growth engines right now, outperforming plan and driving a significant share of our revenue,” says John Fisher, California regional executive for WSP. “Demand tied to electrification, ports and data centers is reshaping the opportunity set.” WSP’s current portfolio reflects this, ranging from the 125-mile Ten West Link Transmission Project to fleet electrification with LA Metro.

While specialized sectors see an influx of ground-up capital projects, public infrastructure and K-12 education are shifting toward asset management.

“Owners are asking more about asset optimization due to increasing life cycle costs,” Fisher notes. “Many of today’s projects focus on modernizing existing systems for resilience and capacity, particularly in transportation and water.”

Public schools are following the same trend. With flat enrollment and aging buildings, districts are choosing major renovations over brand-new builds.

“We are not seeing a pivot to new construction and development,” says Aaron Jobson, president and CEO of Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA). “Much of our work is focused on multiphase projects that modernize or replace existing facilities on a campus.” QKA is currently executing this model in California through campus modernizations at Sunnyvale Middle School and Mill Valley’s historic Tamalpais High School.

In contrast, specialized higher education and health sciences sectors are building ground-up to accommodate modern tech.

“Ground-up construction represents more than 90% of our revenue for 2026,” says Jenna Knudsen, managing principal at CO Architects. “However, many of these projects include additions to existing medical or laboratory facilities and also include renovation.”

CO Architects is designing the Providence Rancho Mission Viejo Campus Redevelopment, anchoring the California site with a brand-new 177,000-sq-ft inpatient tower.

Water Station 4 in Vancouver, Wash., is one of the first stations in the city that will treat water for PFAS.
Rendering courtesy Stantec

Managing Capacity Bottleneck

The roadblock for all these projects is the scarcity of senior engineers and architects. “Capacity remains a real constraint, particularly in high-cost markets like California,” Fisher says.

Firms are handling this talent bottleneck through differing operational strategies. QKA is expanding geographically. “We have been selective about which projects we take on ... and have turned down attractive projects to try and maintain that balance,” Jobson says. To counter this, QKA opened a new Colorado branch to capture out-of-state talent pools and alleviate strain on its California staff.