Burns & McDonnell had quite a year in Texas and Louisiana in 2013. This full-service engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting solutions firm saw its 2013 regional revenue jump nearly four-fold over the previous year – the largest increase on this year’s ranking. While some of that was attributable to undercounting some project revenue in 2012 for several projects that were located in Texas but managed out of the firm’s Kansas City office, Burns & McDonnell credits the start of several huge projects in Texas with much of this increase, mostly oil and gas, and transmission/distribution projects. This has also led to a staffing increase of 40% in 2013. For its incredible performance and industry leadership, ENR Texas & Louisiana has named Burns & McDonnell its 2014 Design Firm of the Year.

Some of the company’s current projects include the Central Plant Master Plan Implementation project for Thermal Energy Corp. in Houston’s Texas Medical Center, 138-kV Transmission Grid Improvements for TXU Electric Delivery in Fort Worth, the Biomedical District Steam Plant for Enwave USA in New Orleans and the Chisolm Trail Parkway - Section 5 for the North Texas Tollway Authority in Tarrant County, Texas.

Every project at Burns & McDonnell, a 100% employee-owned company, operates with the safety philosophy that zero recordable incidents can be accomplished with proper planning, resources and follow-through. In 2013, the firm recorded a total recordable incident rate of 0.22, the same as in 2012.

As for community outreach, the firm had a major sponsorship of the Wounded Warriors organization in association with the Houston Rockets and Toyota Center. Burns & McDonnell also had a major effort for employees (both workday and fundraising) in support of Habitat for Humanity, and participates in Bike Around the Bay.

Perhaps one of the most notable changes for the company in Houston was the renovation and expansion of its office into a building now named Burns & McDonnell Plaza. That office has space to accommodate 550 employee owners, which the firm could hit later this year or early 2015.

Be sure to check out more about Burns & McDonnell in the June 9 issue of ENR Texas & Louisiana!