Midsize design firms with revenue between $100 million and $250 million are often thought of as being the industry's most endangered species as well as its prime buyout targets. But Walnut Creek, Calif.-based water-wastewater firm Carollo Engineers Inc. thinks it will do just fine. Photo: Courtesy Carollo Related Links: The Top 500 Design Firms: 2010-2011 at a Glance “We've stayed true to the goal of internal ownership, and we're not tempted by big-dollar numbers,” says Gary Deis, CEO since 2002. Carollo has $168.5 million in 2010 revenue and 650 employees. After market conditions forced the firm to re-examine its valuation,
The Abu Dhabi-based owner of a planned $11-billion railway network across the United Arab Emirates has selected a Parsons Corp.-AECOM joint venture as the project's program manager, say both company sources who did not wish to be named and published reports in the Middle East. The owner, Etihad Rail Co., formerly Union Railway, has declined requests to confirm either the selection or contract award. The joint venture would replace a team of Parsons and Paris-based SYSTRA, whose PM contract was canceled in January, just two months after the railway announced its selection of the firms. Reasons for the termination were
Skanska USA Civil Northeast Inc. has agreed to pay $19.6 million to settle a federal investigation into disadvantaged-business-enterprise subcontracting practices among contractors on New York City. According to the settlement announced March 31, the Whitestone, N.Y.-based unit of global Swedish contractor Skanska AB will not face any civil claims or criminal charges stemming from the probe, which is continuing. But in a related indictment of owners of one of the contractor’s DBE subcontractors, Ridgefield, N.J.-based Environmental Energy Associates (EEA), prosecutors say that on one project, Skanska USA Civil Northeast “effectively self-performed the work…and helped create the appearance that EEA had
Skanska USA Civil Northeast Inc. has agreed to pay $19.6 million to settle a federal investigation into disadvantaged-business-enterprise subcontracting practices among contractors on New York City. According to the settlement announced March 31, the Whitestone, N.Y.-based unit of global Swedish contractor Skanska AB will not face any civil claims or criminal charges stemming from the probe, which is continuing. But in a related indictment of owners of one of the contractor’s DBE subcontractors, Ridgefield, N.J.-based Environmental Energy Associates (EEA), prosecutors say that on one project, Skanska USA Civil Northeast “effectively self-performed the work…and helped create the appearance that EEA had
Beyond the Nuclear Nightmare: Quake Takes a Daunting Toll With estimates of at least 110,000 buildings damaged or destroyed and 20,000 fatalities in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, rebuilding Japan will be a long and expensive undertaking, dwarfing the financial impact of the 1995 Kobe quake disaster. The World Bank estimates dam- age at up to $235 billion, 4% of Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP), compared with $100 billion for Kobe, or 2% of GDP. Private insurers could pay up to $33 billion to cover the destruction, compared with $783 million for Kobe, according to the bank. Restoration will
BENNING T.R. Benning Jr., co-founder and chairman of Atlanta-based commercial builder Benning Construction Co. and a wounded engineer combat battalion commander in World War II, died on March 10 in that city. He was 89 and had complications from a collapsed lung, the company says. Benning co-founded the firm in 1953 with his father and was president until 1990. The firm has about 100 employees and reported $46.8 million in 2009 revenue, according to ENR data. T.R. “Ted” Benning III has succeeded his father in that role. According to the firm’s website, the elder Benning began his career in 1943
Japan’s nuclear disaster has pushed new debate and pause on global nuclear power development, but few nations are canceling projects. Photo: AP Images The Chinese government has called for a revision of nuclear plant safety standards as the country continues its push to develop 80 gigawatts of capacity by 2020. Related Links: Life After Fukushima Beyond the Nuclear Nightmare: Quake Takes a Daunting Toll Citing concerns over Fukushima Daiichi, China called for a timeout March 16 in developing the world’s largest nuclear fleet (see chart) to revise safety standards. The announcement could affect four AP 1000-design units being built by
With estimates of at least 110,000 buildings damaged or destroyed and 20,000 fatalities in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, rebuilding Japan will be a long and expensive undertaking, dwarfing the financial impact of the 1995 Kobe quake disaster. The World Bank estimates dam- age at up to $235 billion, 4% of Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP), compared with $100 billion for Kobe, or 2% of GDP. Private insurers could pay up to $33 billion to cover the destruction, compared with $783 million for Kobe, according to the bank. Photo: Kit Miyamoto/Miyamoto International U.S. engineer Miyamoto surveys coastal damage. Related
BACHTA Joseph A. Bachta, owner and president of International Bridge & Iron Co., Newington, Conn., who fabricated structural steel for many landmark bridges and buildings in the Northeast, died on Nov. 29, 2010, of cardiac arrest in Hartford, Conn. He was 84. Bachta founded the steel fabricator in 1992 and also served as general manager and assistant to the president of Standard Structural Steel Co., also based there, from 1960 to 1990. Projects on which he worked as fabricator include Boston�s Central Artery/Tunnel; the Trident submarine base in Groton, Conn.; the Thames River bridge in Montville, Conn.; skyscrapers in Manhattan,
With construction volume down and the cost of defending claims up, major insurers providing professional liability coverage to architects and engineers all plan to raise rates in 2011, according to a new market survey by Ames & Gough, an insurance broker and risk consultant. The trend, based on responses from insurers representing 70% of the U.S. market for this coverage, is the first across-the-board increase in several years, says Dan Knise, chief executive of the McLean, Va.-based company. He says about a third of providers had lowered their rates in 2010. Knise points to new project management approaches—such as integrated
