Firms on the move – December 2008

Stantec offered to acquire Jacques Whitford, an environmental consulting services firm with more than 1,700 employees and 40 offices, principally in Canada. The transaction, expected to be completed in January 2009, will strengthen Stantec’s core environmental capabilities and provide several strategic advantages, including doubling its geographic presence in Atlantic Canada; expanding and enhancing its geotechnical engineering capabilities; creating a significant presence in Canada’s Arctic and Alberta for resource development environmental and geoscience assessments; expanding its capabilities to support the mining sector; and expanding its capabilities in air quality services.

AMEC acquired OEST Associates, Inc., an engineering and architecture firm headquartered in Portland, Maine, with a satellite office near Orlando, Fla. With more than 100 professionals serving clients in the private and public sectors, OEST bolsters AMEC’s civil engineering design and sustainable design resources in the United States and provides additional Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) skills.

Raleigh, N.C.-based Ko & Associates will merge with regional engineering and environmental services consultants, Florence & Hutcheson, Inc. Ko & Associates provides engineering services, specializing in transportation planning, NEPA documentation, and traffic engineering; structure and roadway design; bridge safety inspections; maintenance of traffic plans; and water resources. Florence & Hutcheson provides a complete spectrum of civil engineering services from 17 regional offices throughout the Southeast.

Merrick & Company opened new offices in San Antonio, Texas, and Oak Ridge, Tenn. The firm has been involved in the planning and design of projects in Texas for more than 15 years and in ongoing projects at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the last eight years.

New York-based Sam Schwartz Engineering acquired Land Strategies, Inc., of Chicago. Land Strategies is a nine-year-old traffic engineering and transportation planning firm specializing in urban environments that offers Sam Schwartz Engineering an opportunity to expand into new markets while acquiring the knowledge and experience of the local staff.

Terracon acquired NTL Engineering & Geoscience, a company practicing in the geotechnical, construction materials, and environmental engineering fields, with headquarters in Great Falls and offices in Kalispell and Bozeman, Mont. The merger allows Terracon to expand its operations further into Montana and offer greater national coverage to clients.

The addition of Vision Environmental, Inc., Walled Lake, Mich., to GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., an environmental and geotechnical consulting firm, adds air quality, permitting, regulatory compliance, and below-ground environmental assessment capabilities to GZA’s Great Lakes operations.

Wallace Group, a multi-discipline consulting firm, completed a major step in its Leadership Transition Plan with the appointment of Brad Brechwald, P.E., PLS, to CEO and Tom Zehnder, P.E., to COO. The transition is effective Jan. 1, 2009. Brechwald succeeds John Wallace, who founded the firm 25 years ago and will continue to serve as president and chairman of the board.

Chicago-based Collins Engineers, Inc., acquired Charles Keim & Associates, Inc., of Boulder, Colo. Founded in 1993, Keim & Associates is a full-service civil engineering firm with broad-based expertise in land development that has designed and constructed projects principally along the Colorado Front Range, ski resort areas, and in other Western states.

Kenderian Zilinski Associates, established in 1991, changed its name to KZA Engineering, upgraded its logo, and moved to new corporate headquarters in Manasquan, N.J. Additionally, the firm established new facilities for its Malvern, Pa., office and opened a new office in Virginia, near Washington, D.C.