Related Links: Sacramento Bee: Chinese firm for Bay Bridge produced flaws in another huge project Fluor Settles With Utilities in U.K. Wind-Farm Construction Dispute Challenges Are Ahead for KBR's New CEO on Board in June Two large global design firms are ending 2014 by announcing major corporate changes that reflect the year's industry trends of rampant consolidation and shifting markets.To bolster its North American presence and global environmental and water infrastructure work, Denmark-based engineer Ramboll Group A/S on Dec. 17 said it acquired Arlington, Va.-based consultant ENVIRON Holdings Inc., which had $294 million in global 2013 environmental, safety and health
ENR Michael Caliel, an IT sector veteran, now will lead the global drilling-water services contractor. Layne Christensen has high hopes for Michael J. Caliel, who takes over on Jan. 2 as president and CEO of the U.S.-based global water management, construction and drilling contractor, after a 2014 of tough business breaks.The former IT sector chief was tapped earlier this month to succeed board Chairman David A.B. Brown, who took those roles temporarily in June, following the sudden resignation of former CEO Rene J. Robichaud in the wake of big bottom-line issues.According to analysts, Robichaud stepped down in what Layne Christensen
Related Links: Parsons Corp. Expands Presence in Canada Transport Design Bowles is back, this time to help Kidder expand further in California Windfarms in Australia may be blown away as Prime Minister Tony Abbott lauds coal Rider Levett Bucknall, a U.K.-based cost and project management consulting firm wth more than 120 offices and 3,200 staff globally, will not replace Lance Taylor, CEO of its 400-person U.K. division in London, who left the firm in September. Instead, it will share his executive responsibility among six division board directors to promote what it calls a more “collegiate” management approach, according to British
AP Photo Ex-MWH Global engineer Matthew Huang and his wife, Grace, are suing his former employer related to a troubled deployment to Qatar. Related Links: Construction Industry Learning Goes Borderless: Adjusting Training to Differing Cultures Jan. 6 Practicing Law Institute seminar with Donald Dowling: Developing International Employee Handbooks, Global Codes of Conduct and Cross-Border HR Policies While construction-industry firms that deploy expatriates to far-flung and risky global jobsites have taken notice of the saga of one MWH Global Inc. engineer caught in a two-year legal wrangle in Qatar with new U.S. developments, employment experts say the situation is highly unusual.Matthew
Michael Goodman for ENR Derish Wolff in 2003 as he appeared on the cover of ENR. Related Links: Louis Berger Group Completes Compliance Overhaul U.S. Charges Ex-Berger Group CEO With Overbilling Scheme Probe Leads to Wolffs Likely Exit From Berger Derish Wolff, the former chief executive of Louis Berger Group, pleaded guilty Dec. 12 to inflating overhead rates for work on cost-reimbursable U.S. Agency for International Development contracts and now faces a possible prison sentence and heavy fines.His sentencing is scheduled for March, 2015.The plea agreement in federal court in Trenton represents a bitter conclusion to a career in which
Sean Airhart, NBBJ Digital content firm veteran also held management roles at Sotheby's. Related Links: NBBJ Website Juli Cook, a veteran executive credited with innovating business models in professional and creative services firms, has joined Seattle design firm NBBJ as chief operating officer. Previously, she was an executive vice president of Corbis Corp., a digital content licensing company founded in 1989 by Bill Gates. She most recently led diversification efforts in its unit, Corbis Images, successfully acquiring multiple new business lines. Cook also had been vice president of product management at retail bank Washington Mutual, and held management roles at
Georgia State University Herman J. Russell, who built a successful building business in Atlanta and was a noted philanthropist and activist, died on Nov. 15 at age 83. Related Links: Herman J. Russell, Sr. International Center for Entrepreneurship Memoir: Building Atlanta-How I Broke Through Segregation to Launch a Business Empire Link to Herman J. Russell, business history photo gallery Herman J. "HJ" Russell, whose instinct to buy a vacant Atlanta lot at age 16 propelled him to found a construction and real estate firm involved in building many city landmarks—and made him one of the country's most successful and well-known
Related Links: CA/T Facing Protracted Tunnel Leaks Investigation Tunnel partner known to fight tough with public agencies MassDOT Administrator Out After Latest Big Dig Mishap A 15-year-old change order legal battle between the Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation and a key construction joint venture on Boston's $14-billion Big Dig project is finally ending, with the state agreeing to a final $88.7-million settlement.In what some observers say was a landmark case in New England, state officials last month agreed to pay the remainder of funds owed to the PKC construction team—led by contractor Tutor Perini and including Kiewit Corp. and Jay Cashman
Related Links: AMEC Set to Acquire Foster Wheeler in $3.2-Billion Deal NaylorDespite some hiccups in their most recent results, engineer-project management firms Amec plc and Foster Wheeler AG are optimistic about their futures as a combined entity in a booming global energy sector, says a key North American executive. London-based Amec Foster Wheeler is the new entity formed by the Nov. 13 completion of Amec's acquisition of Foster Wheeler. The publicly held firm, with consolidated revenue of more than $8.6 billion and about 40,000 employees, will be traded on both the London and New York stock exchanges and sports
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. said on Nov. 23 that President and CEO Craig Martin will retire from the role and the firm, effective Dec. 26, for unspecified “health reasons.”
