Clark Nexsen will be recognized as the 2020 Design Firm of the Year in the June print issue of ENR MidAtlantic.  

The Design Firm of the Year demonstrates success in the region from a growth and revenue standpoint as well as innovation, creativity and a commitment to giving back to its community. The last six MidAtlantic winners include WSP, ECS Mid-Atlantic, KCI Technologies Inc., Whitman Requardt and Associates, Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson and Pennoni Associates. 

The Virginia Beach, Va.-based transdisciplinary architecture and engineering firm will be featured in the June issue of ENR MidAtlantic along with the top-ranked design firms in the region—which includes Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D.C. and West Virginia. The results of that survey are based on 2019 revenue. The survey will feature more than 100 firms.

Ranked No. 37 on last year’s ENR MidAtantic Top Design Firm survey with $44.51 in regional revenue, the firm also ranked 180 on the Top 500 Design Firm rankings with $86.7 million in overall revenue. Clark Nexsen’s revenue increased by more than $9 million in the MidAtlantic region from 2018 to 2019. The firm's attributes this increase to "substantial growth in their transportation and commercial markets" along with their "consistently strong federal market." The firm's transportation projects include the 18th and 19th Street Corridor Improvements in Virginia Beach, Va., the Nansemond Parkway Expansion in Suffolk, Va., and continuous contracts with the Virginia Dept. of Transportation Hampton Roads District for bridge inspections since 1995. 

Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, the firm says its long-term financial stability is the result of "diverse, respected expertise and a focus on expanding services to meet clients’ needs." Since its founding in 1920, the firm has served clients across the MidAtlantic market, including Virginia Tech, Penn State, the University of Virginia, the U.S. Naval Academy, Virginia Military Institute, NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The firm says its Building Science group provides energy modeling, improves project performance, and gathers data so they have continuous energy analysis throughout the design process. Energy modeling, performed from concept design through construction documents, helps improve Energy Use Intensity for the firm’s vertical projects, the firm says.

The Clark Nexsen Foundation contributed more than $200,000 to several organizations last year, including the American Heart Association, Junior Achievement, Virginia Beach GrowSmart and the Virginia Arts Festival. The firm also funded scholarships for a number of MidAtlantic universities and community colleges. Since 2004, the firm has raised more than $120,000 in support of the Multiple Sclerosis Society to fight MS, primarily through teams participating in Bike MS rides.

During the last 15 years, Clark Nexsen donated more than $100,000 of food to food banks through CANstruction, a charity art exhibition and event in which architectural and engineering firms compete to design and build themed art structures assembled from canned food.

To find out where Clark Nexsen ranks in this year’s Top Design Firm survey, and to learn more about the firm, pick up a copy of the June issue of ENR MidAtlantic.