Clients over projects. This simple, three-sentence declaration describes Burns & McDonnell, the 2019 ENR Southwest Design Firm of the Year.

 

Although the firm is not based in the Southwest, the Phoenix office serves major clients including Arizona Public Service, Southwest Airlines, Salt River Project, Arizona State University, University of Arizona and Tucson Electric Power. The firm is one that values and gives back to the communities it serves. Outside of the office, each employee-owner raises their family in the region and is encouraged to take part in some community outreach opportunity including Arizona Opera and donating time and efforts to build a Girl Scout camp in Phoenix.

 

The services provided by the regional office focus on renewable energy, federal, water and infrastructure, aviation, and commercial and industrial projects. Over the past 10 years, staff size has more than doubled and revenues have risen more than 25% from 2016 to 2018.

 

The Phoenix office is the also “center of excellence” for all solar projects done by Burns & McDonnell regardless of region. The firm also performs intricate design and consulting tasks including classified work for Los Alamos National Laboratories and sensitive work for the armed forces.

 

Perhaps the firm’s most recently notable is work is with Arizona Public Service on their solar plan and development, performing hands-on design tasks and also big-picture goal setting. (Editor’s note: For more, see this blog https://bit.ly/2JEmZk8 or this ENR National article from March 20 https://bit.ly/2CAwafA).

 

We will have more in the April 29/May 6 issue of ENR Southwest which will also include our annual Top Design Firms rankings. (Editor’s note: The online portal for firms who wish to participate in the survey is still open!)

For more information, reach me at jguzzon.enr@gmail.com