The Midwest’s largest design firms continued to drive revenue despite the COVID-19 pandemic that stalled the economy, with total billings reaching $6.54 billion in 2020.
ENR Midwest’s Top Design Firms list for 2021 ranks 110 companies based on revenue across the 11-state region. The ranking shows that the Midwest’s top architects and engineers managed to hit a new revenue high despite the pandemic, even as smaller firms saw losses as billings began to dry up. This year’s total for all companies on the list was $40 million higher than the record-breaking $6.14 billion reported for in 2019 and $84 million more than the $5.78 billion reported in 2018.
As in the past, the firms on this year’s list represent a wide range of specialties including, but not limited to, environmental, transportation, warehouses, manufacturing, telecommunications, health care, water supply and hazardous waste.
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Some of the top-ranked firms on the list shifted revenue rankings a bit from the previous year. Burns & McDonnell, which was second last year, surged to the top spot in the Midwest.
It was followed by AECOM, which was the only other company to surpass the $500-million mark.
The top 10 also included HDR, Design Firm of the Year Stantec, HNTB Corp., WSP USA, Terracon Consultants, Arcadis NA Parsons Corp. and Kimley-Horn.
Given the hurdles presented by the pandemic, some companies adjusted their revenue expectations for the year. That was the case for Olathe, Kan.- based Terracon Consultants, which was ranked 7thon this year’s list, rising from 8th last year.
M. Gayle Packer, president and CEO, says the company had predicted a 10% revenue gain for the year, but saw only a 2% increase, which she says was caused by such issues as some states’ bans on construction and engineering work that wasn’t classified as essential; clients who halted or placed projects on hold; and some state governments that froze their budgets.
她说，收入增长“本质上是平坦的，我们为去年的条件感到自豪。”她将公司略微增加收入的能力部分归因于对公司技术基础设施的投资，这使得陶龙能够在2020年3月的大流行袭击时顺利地将其大部分劳动力寄回工作。
该公司以前曾向大多数员工提供笔记本电脑而不是台式机，而一半的员工在周末的空间中被送回家上班。迅速成立了一个工作队，以建立该领域工人的安全和业务协议，Packer说，他们没有自行解决问题。
她说：“这帮助我们的人民保持专注。”她说：“我们有一个咒语'控制我们能做什么，这就是业务和安全实践。”
One of Terracon’s Midwest projects was a $360,000 brownfield cleanup for the city of South Beloit, Ill. The site, in a river floodway, was contaminated by industrial uses. Terracon used traditional cleanup methods as well as crop phytoremediation, which uses a succession of crops (buckwheat and rye) to remediate the soil and which provided a cost savings for the client.
Like Terracon, Burns & McDonnell also stayed focused on business in 2020, thanks to nearly 15,000 projects nationwide and the efforts of its more than 600 employees.
B＆M是我们名单上的顶级公司。总部位于密苏里州堪萨斯城，并在明尼阿波利斯街的芝加哥设有地区办事处。保罗和圣路易斯，该公司在中西部工作了4,000多个项目。18luck官网
董事长兼首席执行官雷·科瓦利克（Ray Kowalik）表示，大流行对某些市场产生了不利影响，例如石油/天然气和航空公司/机场业务，这导致公司重新关注。
“We pivoted resources to those markets that were hot during COVID—logistics, food and consumer products, and mission-critical, specifically,” Kowalik says.
B&M posted its strongest sales quarter ever in the fourth quarter and anticipates revenue will grow by 10% this year, he says.
该公司为Centerpoint Energy完成的中西部项18luck官网目之一是印第安纳州特洛伊的Troy Solar Farm。它由300英亩的150,000个太阳能电池板组成。这项工作于一月份完成。该装置是该地区最大的单人太阳能农场之一，有能力为8,000多个房屋生产太阳能。
Kowalik says an integrated construction approach created efficiencies. “By working simultaneously on design, procurement and construction, we were able to design, procure and mobilize quicker than traditional design-bid-build delivery methods,” he says.
该公司使用无人机图像和映射来获取初步地形信息，从而使站点设计团队能够进行初步的站点评估并为基金会获取备用的数据。
Another company, Detroit-based SmithGroup, which placed 23rd on this year’s list, also was pleased with how it withstood the pandemic.
“尽管大流行提出了许多挑战，但2020年对于史密斯集团来说，这是强大的一年，”校长兼公司传播总监戴夫·惠特曼（Dave Whitman）说。“我们能够将收入保持在几乎等于2019年的水平。”该公司看到了许多项目被搁置，但在医疗保健，工作场所18luck官网和校园计划等高需求领域的其他地方找到了机会。
惠特曼说：“客户需要值得信赖的合作伙伴，以帮助他们了解大流行如何在其商业模式中创造或揭露弱点。”“我们能够提供我们的设计思考专业知识，以帮助他们通过开展业务的新方法并设计系统/设施，以帮助他们调整或脱颖而出，从而摆脱大流行造成的危机。”
One of the firm’s Midwest projects was the Zeiss Michigan Quality Excellence Center in Wixom, Mich. The German company is known for pioneering scientific optics and fabricating electronic measuring devices. It needed to consolidate five offices into one location.
Whitman says the machines that Zeiss produces measure to such small tolerances that they require a level of stability that usually leads to closed-box labs. SmithGroup used an HVAC system and architectural planning strategy that allowed them to create a workspace that fosters daylighting, provides amenities and links to the outdoors on campus.
Despite the challenges, Kowalik and others predict that large firms will continue to succeed by providing a diverse range of services and reacting quickly to meet ever-changing business needs. Kowalik believes these capabilities will continue to be part of their future.
Kowalik说：“过去一年，我们已经学会了枢纽 - 比以往任何时候都更强大。”“随着市场的变化，我们的团队也随之而来。”
