An analysis of Dun & Bradstreet stats by consultant Paul Abramson indicates that some $11 billion was spent on higher ed construction last year—up a billion from 2012, with nearly 70% comprising new buildings (http://bit.ly/1qhMzaw).
As examined in BD+C’s in-depth May report, university stakeholders face complicated cap-ex stressors, from chronic (lender stinginess, deferred maintenance) to impending (President Obama’s pledge to start rating colleges on value delivered, consumer pushback on ever-rising costs).
Creative approaches to financing, design, and delivery are top-of-mind. Paula Stamp, Business Development Manager in the Los Angeles office of PCL Construction, says clients are exploring CM at risk, design-build, and design risk. Margie Simmons, VP and Education Sector Leader at Stantec, adds: “Higher debt levels will encourage institutions to seek off-balance-sheet financing solutions and P3s.”
Teri Jones, VP at Sundt Construction, sees a similar pattern, plus emphasis on revenue-generating buildings like dorms and recreation centers.
Facility trends observed by Stamp include housing construction by community colleges (serving a growing international-student population) and better use of indoor and outdoor circulation and common space. John Baxter, Education Sector Leader at EYP, says clients are asking for features that enhance an interactive “corridor culture” in dorms.
Michael Medici, AIA, NCARB, Learning Practice Leader and Senior VP at SmithGroupJJR, mentions growing demand for facilities that support interprofessional health sciences education and project-based, career-oriented learning. Also gaining traction: office zones that mimic private-sector workplaces, with less assigned space and more team zones.
Perkins+Will higher ed designers Jeff Ziebarth, Jeff Stebar, and John Long are also seeing this pattern; Long says younger faculty and administrators have been a lot more receptive than veterans.
Top University Sector Architecture Firms
Rank | Company | 2013 Higher Ed Revenue |
1 | CannonDesign | $76,000,000 |
2 | Perkins+will | 45,582,532 |
3 | Stantec | 42,368,888 |
4 | EYP Architecture & Engineering | 39,000,000 |
5 | Gensler | 29,492,000 |
6 | SmithGroupJJR | 27,088,190 |
7 | Clark Nexsen | 21,732,694 |
8 | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill | 20,933,579 |
9 | Page | 19,771,000 |
10 | ZGF Architects | 19,397,489 |
11 | Wilson Architects | 18,500,000 |
12 | Ennead Architects | 18,086,505 |
13 | Flad Architects | 16,260,000 |
14 | SHW Group | 15,991,000 |
15 | Shepley Bulfinch | 15,595,000 |
16 | Harley Ellis Devereaux | 15,120,000 |
17 | Moseley Architects | 15,016,516 |
18 | Lord Aeck Sargent | 13,533,882 |
19 | HMC Architects | 13,440,933 |
20 | NBBJ | 13,242,000 |
21 | HKS | 12,847,559 |
22 | Ballinger | 12,113,215 |
23 | Beyer Blinder Belle | 11,627,926 |
24 | DLR Group | 11,100,000 |
25 | LS3P | 10,532,964 |
26 | Morris Architects | 10,000,000 |
27 | Solomon Cordwell Buenz | 10,000,000 |
28 | Davis Brody Bond | 9,835,655 |
29 | FGM Architects | 9,821,820 |
30 | LPA | 9,561,760 |
31 | Perkins Eastman | 9,300,000 |
32 | Moody Nolan | 9,104,965 |
33 | CO Architects | 8,912,400 |
34 | EwingCole | 7,430,000 |
35 | Heery International | 7,186,274 |
36 | Hastings+Chivetta Architects | 6,378,602 |
37 | Westlake Reed Leskosky | 6,325,000 |
38 | FXFOWLE Architects | 6,200,000 |
39 | Mithun | 6,158,000 |
40 | Goodwyn Mills & Cawood | 6,127,329 |
41 | HOK | 5,876,913 |
42 | BSA LifeStructures | 5,789,413 |
43 | NTD Architecture | 5,586,000 |
44 | LMN Architects | 5,549,900 |
45 | Ratio Architects | 5,537,316 |
46 | Leo A Daly | 5,395,356 |
47 | Bergmann Associates | 5,304,175 |
48 | Little | 5,249,190 |
49 | Hammel, Green and Abrahamson | 4,836,088 |
50 | Legat Architects | 4,685,600 |
51 | GBBN Architects | 4,560,000 |
52 | Carrier Johnson + Culture | 4,060,468 |
53 | Parkhill, Smith & Cooper | 4,026,000 |
54 | Cooper Carry | 3,961,244 |
55 | CTA Architects Engineers | 3,737,320 |
56 | Cambridge Seven Associates | 3,473,000 |
57 | PGAL | 3,260,300 |
58 | BLDD Architects | 3,000,000 |
59 | IBI Group ? Gruzen Samton | 3,000,000 |
60 | Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates | 2,974,000 |
61 | Slaterpaull Architects | 2,879,532 |
62 | Hord Coplan Macht | 2,843,072 |
63 | OZ Architecture | 2,825,000 |
64 | Kirksey | 2,822,225 |
65 | Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio | 2,801,380 |
66 | WDG Architecture | 2,757,000 |
67 | RS&H | 2,450,000 |
68 | SchenkelShultz Architecture | 2,386,000 |
69 | Payette | 2,282,352 |
70 | Corgan | 2,202,280 |
71 | Integrus Architecture | 2,191,762 |
72 | BLTa | 2,175,000 |
73 | H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture | 2,141,323 |
74 | WHR Architects | 1,958,367 |
75 | Baskervill | 1,853,208 |
76 | Ashley McGraw Architects | 1,836,510 |
77 | KZF Design | 1,698,300 |
78 | Eppstein Uhen Architects | 1,691,787 |
79 | VOA Associates | 1,628,847 |
80 | GWWO | 1,623,501 |
81 | Wight & Company | 1,586,000 |
82 | Hoffmann Architects | 1,548,000 |
83 | Symmes Maini & McKee Associates | 1,530,000 |
84 | PBK | 1,500,000 |
85 | NAC|Architecture | 1,424,431 |
86 | LaBella Associates | 1,310,186 |
87 | Niles Bolton Associates | 1,263,210 |
88 | Nelson | 1,213,987 |
89 | Fentress Architects | 1,120,400 |
90 | Urban Design Group | 1,100,000 |
91 | Environetics | 1,087,370 |
92 | NORR | 1,052,484 |
93 | Becker Morgan Group | 1,037,159 |
94 | Albert Kahn Associates | 904,065 |
95 | RTKL Associates | 849,000 |
96 | Good Fulton & Farrell | 815,800 |
97 | Goettsch Partners | 810,000 |
98 | BBS Architects | 800,240 |
99 | Commonwealth Architects | 775,074 |
100 | Francis Cauffman | 707,774 |
101 | RNL | 690,000 |
102 | RBB Architects | 657,149 |
103 | RSP Architects | 620,000 |
104 | Gresham, Smith and Partners | 567,000 |
105 | Fanning/Howey Associates | 541,000 |
106 | Rosser International | 539,460 |
107 | Harvard Jolly Architecture | 530,103 |
108 | DesignGroup | 457,970 |
109 | Hnedak Bobo Group | 353,000 |
110 | JRS Architect | 295,000 |
111 | Emersion Design | 273,766 |
112 | Ware Malcomb | 240,000 |
113 | H+L Architecture | 236,252 |
114 | Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates | 226,716 |
115 | Sherlock, Smith & Adams | 219,000 |
Top University Sector Engineering Firms
Rank | Company | 2013 Higher Ed Revenue |
1 | AECOM Technology Corp. | $76,410,000 |
2 | Jacobs | 35,150,000 |
3 | URS Corp. | 29,434,668 |
4 | Vanderweil Engineers | 26,614,500 |
5 | Burns & McDonnell | 24,152,332 |
6 | Affiliated Engineers | 22,469,000 |
7 | Parsons Brinckerhoff | 20,057,993 |
8 | STV | 18,416,000 |
9 | Arup | 14,561,909 |
10 | KJWW Engineering Consultants | 13,071,767 |
11 | BR+A Consulting Engineers | 10,120,000 |
12 | WSP Group | 9,120,000 |
13 | Simpson Gumpertz & Heger | 9,070,000 |
14 | Thornton Tomasetti | 7,942,631 |
15 | M-E Engineers | 7,243,000 |
16 | P2S Engineering | 7,170,208 |
17 | Shive-Hattery | 6,612,598 |
18 | Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates | 6,550,000 |
19 | Dewberry | 6,331,593 |
20 | Environmental Systems Design | 6,144,227 |
21 | RMF Engineering | 5,400,000 |
22 | AKF Group | 5,261,000 |
23 | Glumac | 4,922,565 |
24 | M/E Engineering | 4,699,367 |
25 | TTG | 4,600,100 |
26 | Newcomb & Boyd | 4,505,166 |
27 | RDK Engineers | 4,490,000 |
28 | Heapy Engineering | 4,426,631 |
29 | KCI Technologies | 4,400,000 |
30 | Interface Engineering | 4,351,590 |
31 | Joseph R. Loring & Associates | 4,100,000 |
32 | I. C. Thomasson Associates | 3,500,000 |
33 | Spectrum Engineers | 3,347,542 |
34 | Highland Associates | 3,200,000 |
35 | KPFF Consulting Engineers | 3,125,000 |
36 | Syska Hennessy Group | 3,072,512 |
37 | Ross & Baruzzini | 3,043,445 |
38 | H.F. Lenz | 2,878,115 |
39 | Rist-Frost-Shumway Engineering | 2,850,000 |
40 | Sparling | 2,553,080 |
41 | Smith Seckman Reid | 2,519,005 |
42 | Martin/Martin | 2,263,812 |
43 | Karpinski Engineering | 2,170,197 |
44 | Aon Fire Protection Engineering Corp. | 2,000,000 |
45 | Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber | 2,000,000 |
46 | SSOE Group | 1,912,012 |
47 | Henderson Engineers | 1,838,909 |
48 | TLC Engineering for Architecture | 1,806,782 |
49 | Zak Companies | 1,706,697 |
50 | Bridgers & Paxton Consulting Engineers | 1,686,953 |
51 | CJL Engineering | 1,657,350 |
52 | Graef | 1,584,321 |
53 | Primera Engineers | 1,456,000 |
54 | CCRD Partners | 1,388,000 |
55 | Brinjac Engineering | 1,303,855 |
56 | Paulus, Sokolowski and Sartor | 1,200,000 |
57 | Wallace Engineering | 1,133,000 |
58 | Stanley Consultants | 1,090,529 |
59 | Leidos | 1,040,000 |
60 | Walter P Moore and Associates | 1,005,161 |
61 | Allen & Shariff | 1,000,000 |
62 | Dunham Associates | 950,000 |
63 | Bala Consulting Engineers | 926,000 |
64 | Degenkolb Engineers | 855,093 |
65 | OLA Consulting Engineers | 840,000 |
66 | Mazzetti | 774,981 |
67 | DeSimone Consulting Engineers | 474,096 |
68 | KLH Engineers | 468,745 |
69 | ThermalTech Engineering | 460,000 |
70 | French & Parrello Associates | 300,690 |
71 | GHT Limited | 260,000 |
72 | Wick Fisher White | 223,276 |
73 | CTLGroup | 220,000 |
74 | Davis, Bowen & Friedel | 204,422 |
75 | Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon | 200,000 |
76 | Magnusson Klemencic Associates | 166,730 |
77 | Coffman Engineers | 116,263 |
Top University Sector Construction Firms
Rank | Company | 2013 Higher Ed Revenue |
1 | Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., The | $818,698,552 |
2 | Turner Construction | 774,984,000 |
3 | Gilbane | 475,524,757 |
4 | Skanska USA | 371,024,162 |
5 | PCL Construction | 368,990,947 |
6 | Clark Group | 312,942,079 |
7 | Shawmut Design and Construction | 265,610,000 |
8 | Barton Malow | 264,908,516 |
9 | Structure Tone | 229,539,000 |
10 | Consigli Construction | 227,995,719 |
11 | Mortenson Construction | 220,320,000 |
12 | McCarthy Holdings | 203,600,000 |
13 | Sundt Construction | 185,867,366 |
14 | Holder Construction | 176,219,000 |
15 | Messer Construction | 172,997,147 |
16 | Balfour Beatty US | 171,519,250 |
17 | JE Dunn Construction | 164,791,311 |
18 | LeChase Construction Services | 164,000,000 |
19 | Walbridge | 163,500,000 |
20 | Power Construction | 159,000,000 |
21 | Beck Group, The | 157,055,739 |
22 | Suffolk Construction | 149,745,824 |
23 | Tutor Perini Corp. | 145,671,900 |
24 | DPR Construction | 140,724,634 |
25 | W. M. Jordan Company | 130,566,823 |
26 | C.W. Driver | 127,735,000 |
27 | Flintco | 113,500,000 |
28 | Walsh Group, The | 111,960,180 |
29 | Boldt Company, The | 107,802,444 |
30 | Brasfield & Gorrie | 107,242,213 |
31 | Juneau Construction | 97,432,186 |
32 | Manhattan Construction | 89,176,000 |
33 | Rodgers Builders | 88,744,572 |
34 | McGough | 82,000,000 |
35 | Summit Contracting Group | 80,286,141 |
36 | Choate Construction | 77,541,745 |
37 | Pepper Construction | 72,000,000 |
38 | Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction | 66,219,000 |
39 | Bernards | 66,000,000 |
40 | Hensel Phelps | 65,670,000 |
41 | O'Neil Industries/W.E. O'Neil | 65,552,134 |
42 | Kraus-Anderson Construction | 64,000,000 |
43 | Hunt Construction Group | 64,000,000 |
44 | B. L. Harbert International | 63,854,476 |
45 | Lend Lease | 56,720,000 |
46 | CORE Construction Group | 55,821,501 |
47 | Fortis Construction | 53,628,000 |
48 | Layton Construction | 52,600,000 |
49 | Paric Corp. | 50,000,000 |
50 | New South Construction | 47,702,000 |
51 | Hill & Wilkinson | 46,288,000 |
52 | Austin Commercial | 44,335,793 |
53 | Yates Companies, The | 42,800,000 |
54 | Bette Companies, The | 38,929,000 |
55 | Hoffman Construction | 37,000,000 |
56 | Coakley & Williams Construction | 32,064,969 |
57 | Adolfson & Peterson Construction | 30,713,572 |
58 | URS Corp. | 29,434,668 |
59 | James G. Davis Construction | 27,506,326 |
60 | Weitz Company, The | 26,478,980 |
61 | Bomel Construction | 24,949,344 |
62 | Linbeck Group | 24,410,000 |
63 | LPCiminelli | 23,426,935 |
64 | IMC Construction | 22,086,310 |
65 | Hill International | 22,000,000 |
66 | HITT Contracting | 20,900,000 |
67 | E.W. Howell | 20,566,000 |
68 | Parsons Brinckerhoff | 20,057,993 |
69 | STV | 18,416,000 |
70 | Stalco Construction | 17,780,000 |
71 | Haselden Construction | 17,425,677 |
72 | Kitchell Corp. | 13,043,551 |
73 | Hoar Construction | 12,920,000 |
74 | Batson-Cook | 12,513,549 |
75 | Absher Construction | 12,280,813 |
76 | S. M. Wilson & Co. | 10,863,488 |
77 | James McHugh Construction | 10,538,534 |
78 | Robins & Morton | 8,714,264 |
79 | Clune Construction | 8,635,947 |
80 | Haskell | 8,294,931 |
81 | Alberici Constructors | 7,380,631 |
82 | Heery International | 7,186,274 |
83 | Wight & Company | 4,935,000 |
84 | Gray Construction | 3,880,000 |
85 | Ryan Companies US | 3,715,948 |
86 | KBE Building Corp. | 2,694,826 |
87 | Leopardo Companies | 1,907,266 |
88 | Douglas Company, The | 1,507,502 |
89 | JLL | 1,375,045 |
90 | Astorino | 1,222,033 |
91 | Allen & Shariff | 1,000,000 |
Read BD+C's full 2014 Giants 300 Report
Related Stories
| Apr 9, 2014
Steel decks: 11 tips for their proper use | BD+C
Building Teams have been using steel decks with proven success for 75 years. Building Design+Construction consulted with technical experts from the Steel Deck Institute and the deck manufacturing industry for their advice on how best to use steel decking.
| Apr 8, 2014
Gehry, Foster unveil plans for Battersea Power Station redevelopment [slideshow]
Phase 3 of the massive redevelopment of the London landmark will include more than 1,300 residential units, a 160-room hotel, and 350,000 sf of retail space.
| Apr 8, 2014
Fire resistive curtain wall helps The Kensington meet property line requirements
The majority of fire rated glazing applications occur inside a building to allow occupants to exit the building safely or provide an area of refuge during a fire. But what happens when the threat of fire comes from the outside? This was the case for The Kensington, a mixed-use residential building in Boston.
| Apr 8, 2014
First look: Zaha Hadid reveals design for dreamy sculptural hotel
Hadid's design, which will become the fifth hotel tower in the City of Dreams entertainment hub in Macau, features a latticed exoskeleton enveloping the building's exterior.
| Apr 8, 2014
Understanding value billing vs. conventional billing
Every company is a sum of the value it delivers to its clients. What differs from one company to the next is how that value is delivered and perceived. All too often, it is based solely on the fee you charge.
| Apr 8, 2014
Science, engineering find common ground on the Northeastern University campus [slideshow]
The new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building is designed to maximize potential of serendipitous meetings between researchers.
| Apr 8, 2014
40 Under 40 winners: Meet the contractors
Of the up-and-coming AEC professionals to be named to the class of 2014, nine make their living as contractors.
| Apr 7, 2014
40 Under 40 winners: Meet the architects
Of the up-and-coming AEC professionals to be named 40 Under 40 winners by the editors of Building Design+Construction, 21 make their living in the architecture profession.
| Apr 4, 2014
$25 million Orion Jet Center designed by SchenkelShultz now open
As the centerpiece of the 45-acre campus, which is its first phase of a planned 215-acre mixed-use development, the 18,000 square foot executive terminal facility offers spacious passenger areas, administrative space, an executive suite, rental car kiosk, catering and a cafe.
| Apr 3, 2014
Security, accountability, and cloud access: Can you really have it all?
I’ve heard countless stories of conversations between project engineers and IT professionals who can’t come to an agreement on the level of security needed to protect their data while making it more accessible—not only externally, but also internally.