For ENR's Top 500 Design Firms, 2014 was a tumultuous year. It was a year when some of the nation's largest firms became even larger through the continual consolidation that the design profession has undergone over the past decade. It was also a year in which finding the ways and means of securing financing for desperately needed infrastructure work became paramount. And it also was a year when global economic upheavals were a cause for concern for many firms.
The evidence of this upheaval can be seen in the data from ENR's Top 500 Design Firms list. Taken as a group, the Top 500 firms had design revenue of $92.30 billion in 2014, down 0.4% from $92.69 billion in 2013.
在国内方面的市场增长稳定，2014年的2.2％升至661.6亿美元，高于2013年的641.3亿美元。但是，美国以外项目的收入下跌了8.5％，至2014年的261.4亿美元，从28.55亿美元下降。18luck官网2013。
Ironically, part of this drop in revenue can be traced to one of the biggest stories of 2014: industry consolidation. In 2014, Canadian design giant WSP acquired Parsons Brinckerhoff. PB reported $924 million in international design revenue on last year's list. However, this year, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff U.S.'s international revenue is not accounted for in the Top 500 as it is now considered a subsidiary of a non-U.S. design firm. (PB's total international revenue will be included with WSP's revenue on the Top International Design Firms list, which will be published in July.)
Consolidation
Industry consolidation was the major issue among the Top 500 in 2014. The biggest news of 2014 was the acquisition of last year's No. 3 firm on the Top 500, URS Corp., by the No. 1 firm, AECOM, to create the first $10-billion design firm. WSP's acquisition of PB also was big news, as was Amec's acquisition of Foster Wheeler. Other big acquisitions included Arcadis-RTKL acquiring giant architectural firm Callison, which ranked at No. 73 on last year's Top 500, and POWER Engineers' acquisition of Burns and Roe Group, which ranked at No. 100 last year.
The merger of AECOM and URS is now nearly complete, with only a few areas, such as a consolidation of the accounting systems, remaining to be finalized, says Tom Bishop, president of AECOM's design and consulting business and former executive chairman of URS. "We have held hundreds of meetings across both companies and have had a terrific response," he says.
The combined firms will present a wider range of services and open up new opportunities, Bishop says. "When you couple AECOM's design capabilities with URS's construction experience, along with the financing power of AECOM Capital, we can provide full design-build-operate-maintain services. That puts many projects we were not able to pursue in the past squarely in our sweet spot," he says.
另一个重大变化是AMEC收购了Foster Wheeler。AMEC Foster Wheeler美洲总裁Simon Naylor说：“合并非常好。”他说，合并将为能源领域的客户提供AMEC的上游专业知识以及Foster Wheeler的下游经验，“让我们为客户提供真正的整体方法。”
另一家通过收购对美国市场产生重大影响的国际公司是澳大利亚的GHD。GHD Americans总经理Richard Wankmuller说：“在2011年底，我们注意到澳大利亚，尤其是采矿业的衰退开始。”他说，澳大利亚市场的低迷将公司的重点转移到了美国和加拿大。它于2014年7月收购Conestoga-Rover＆Associates“为我们提供了识别和雇用才华横溢的人并访问我们所有五个市场领域的客户的能力，例如水，财产和建筑物，环境，能源和资源以及运输，” Wankmuller说。
Many other firms are looking to expand. "We have not been that acquisitive in the past few years, but we are now looking at more options to acquire," says Todd Wager, president of Parsons Transportation Group.
Most executives in the industry believe consolidation will continue. "Consolidation is not finished," says Greg Graves, CEO of Burns & McDonnell. He says many large firms think they need to grow faster and that the easiest way to grow is through acquisition, although the market it good now. "We are constantly being called by consulting firms, asking if we are interested in buying firms or selling ourselves to other firms," says Graves. "We are interested in acquiring firms, but only if it makes sense for our firm and our markets."
对于许多公司而言，合并的趋势是威胁。一些中型设计公司认为，他们将在与Megafirms竞争时遇到问题。但是其他人认为这是机会。TRC Cos首席执行官克里斯·文塞兹（Chris Vincze）说：“合并正在改变行业。为我们的客户服务。”他说。
Vincze also notes that much of the consolidation has come from companies in Europe and Asia. He says that some international firms, particularly from Australia, have been buying U.S. firms in the water and wastewater space. "With the growing strength of the dollar against the euro and other currencies, it is going to be a lot more expensive to acquire U.S. firms. On the other side, buying international firms with U.S. dollars got a lot cheaper," states Vincze.
TRC also has been making small, strategic acquisitions. In September, it acquired NOVA Safety & Environmental, a Midland, Texas-based safety and hazardous-waste firm. "This gives us a presence in the Permian basin," Vincze says.
费用压力
当公司竞标任何工作时，设计费的压力一直是衰退的宿醉。Cuningham Group Architecture首席执行官Timothy Dufault表示：“市场仍然非常有竞争力，费用的下降压力仍然是强烈的逆风。”
Many firms worry that clients are too focused on costs. "When I started in the business in the 1970s, most of our utility customers had CEOs who were engineers who understood the value of quality engineering. Now, the CEOs are mostly finance people who are mostly concerned with the bottom line," says Dennis DeCosta, president of Commonwealth Assocates Inc.
对成本的关注导致许多设计公司在施工过程中寻求效率。市场仍然具有激烈的竞争力，许多客户强调成本效率，并采用专业采购和成本管理来降低整个供应链中的价格。为了保持竞争力，专业服务公司必须找到降低成本的方法，而不会破坏质量控制。18luck.cub
For some firms, that means passing on projects where price is paramount. "We prefer not to play in the commoditized, low-fee marketplace, where long-term value may be sacrificed for bottom-line capital costs," says Dan Noble, CEO of HKS.
