Southeast Construction will publish our annual Top Design Firms ranking in the upcoming October print issue. We've just finalized the list for publication, and here's a sneak preview of the top 25. The full list will number 90, and the print publication will have numerous breakout charts for project and discipline types.

After several years at the top, PBS&J of Tampa was finally knocked off the No. 1 spot. This year, CH2M Hill of Atlanta resoundingly claimed that position with more than $486.7 million in 2008 design fees from projects in the four-state region. (The firm did not participate in last year’s ranking.) Placing second this year was AECOM Technology Corp. of Coral Gables, Fla., which reported approximately $368.7 million in 2008 billings, up considerably from the $202.9 million it reported last year, when it ranked third overall. (It should be noted that AECOM has been in acquisitions mode recently.)

PBS&J fell from first to third, despite an increase in its design billings from a year ago. The firm reported $337.7 million in regional design fees during 2008, up from the $317.8 million of a year ago.

The listing here is a snapshot of our main overall ranking, which is based upon firms' design billings during 2008 for projects located within the four-state region of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The dollar figures here represent firms' regional totals for the preceding calendar year. All figures are in millions.

1 CH2M HILL                               486.71
2 AECOM Technology Corp.         368.69
3 PBS&J                                     337.74
4 Kimley-Horn and Associates      208.97
5 MACTEC                                  178.79
6 ARCADIS                                 159.78
7 Parsons Brinckerhoff                 116.60
8 HNTB                                       111.27
9 Reynolds, Smith and Hills          104.80
10 Gresham, Smith and Partners    74.13
11 Jordan, Jones and Goulding       71.90
12 Heery International                    69.57
13 The LPA Group                         60.97
14 Perkins+Will                             59.41
15 WilsonMiller                              56.61
16 HKS Architects                         54.70
17 McKim & Creed                         54.66
18 Dyer, Riddle, Mills & Precourt     53.20
19 Designs by Zorian Int'l                50.00
20 TLC Engineering for Architecture 43.84
21 CPH Engineers                         43.70
22 Little                                        43.70
23 KCI Technologies                      41.38
24 Jones Edmunds & Associates   38.52
25 BRPH Architects-Engineers       35.00

Again, in addition to our main ranking, we'll publish numerous breakout rankings based on state activity, project types and disciplines. We'll be posting preview snapshots of a few of those, too, so check back soon.

Finally, if your firm did not participate in this year's ranking, and would like to do so next year, please contact either myself, at Scott_Judy@mcgraw-hill.com, or our database manager, Richard Mui, at Richard_Mui@mcgraw-hill.com.

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