After a long period of anemic performance, with growth mostly driven by renovations and additions, the K-12 sector is showing renewed interest in new construction. Consultant Paul Abramson, using data from Dun & Bradstreet, calculates that districts spent about $13.4 billion on construction projects in 2013, about $7.6 billion of which went for new schools (http://bit.ly/1kN4qkv).
Highest-spending regions included Texas-Louisiana-Oklahoma-Arkansas ($2.3 billion, or 17% of the nation’s K-12 total) and Arizona-California-Hawaii-Nevada ($1.68 billion). The lowest-spending regions included debt-plagued Illinois with neighboring states Minnesota and Wisconsin ($651 million) and Alaska-Idaho-Oregon-Washington ($558 million).
High schools are outpacing other K-12 facilities in construction spending, with the dollar value of projected 2014 starts at $4.15 billion, or 44% of the K-12 total. That’s followed by 33% for elementary schools, 23% for middle schools, and <1% for administrative and support projects.
Among the evident design trends: STEM morphing into STEAM with the addition of arts enrichment (sometimes with professional-quality performance spaces) to science, technology, engineering, and math schools; growing enthusiasm for vocational training facilities that provide an alternative to the traditional college prep path; and schools that do a better job of cementing community connections by leveraging local architectural themes.
The push for sustainable K-12 facilities also marches on; at high levels of green, the theme typically suffuses the pedagogy. Hood River (Ore.) Middle School’s Music and Science Building was recently certified net-zero energy by the International Living Future Institute, making it the first public school building to earn the tough-to-achieve designation.
Top K-12 School Sector Architecture Firms
Rank | Company | 2013 K-12 Revenue |
1 | DLR Group | $41,000,000 |
2 | SHW Group | 40,016,000 |
3 | PBK | 35,880,000 |
4 | HMC Architects | 26,097,082 |
5 | Fanning/Howey Associates | 17,877,000 |
6 | Perkins+will | 16,668,514 |
7 | Heery International | 14,994,535 |
8 | NAC|Architecture | 14,494,206 |
9 | LPA | 14,191,442 |
10 | Perkins Eastman | 13,950,000 |
11 | Quattrocchi Kwok Architects | 13,230,000 |
12 | Moseley Architects | 12,521,613 |
13 | Integrus Architecture | 12,229,858 |
14 | Corgan | 10,372,178 |
15 | FGM Architects | 9,846,977 |
16 | NTD Architecture | 9,200,000 |
17 | Parkhill, Smith & Cooper | 8,580,000 |
18 | Symmes Maini & McKee Associates | 8,375,000 |
19 | Stantec | 8,097,800 |
20 | SchenkelShultz Architecture | 7,880,000 |
21 | SEI Design Group | 7,566,000 |
22 | Slaterpaull Architects | 7,500,468 |
23 | DLA Architects | 7,255,830 |
24 | GWWO | 7,047,216 |
25 | BRPH | 6,681,000 |
26 | Legat Architects | 6,630,200 |
27 | Wight & Company | 6,579,000 |
28 | Ashley McGraw Architects | 6,093,874 |
29 | HMFH Architects | 6,032,607 |
30 | BBS Architects | 5,950,250 |
31 | BLDD Architects | 5,750,000 |
32 | LaBella Associates | 5,644,772 |
33 | LS3P | 5,155,547 |
34 | Eppstein Uhen Architects | 4,623,477 |
35 | H+L Architecture | 4,070,997 |
36 | EwingCole | 4,020,000 |
37 | FXFOWLE Architects | 3,940,000 |
38 | Harley Ellis Devereaux | 3,780,000 |
39 | Cooper Carry | 3,402,330 |
40 | Goodwyn Mills & Cawood | 3,399,167 |
41 | CTA Architects Engineers | 3,336,600 |
42 | HKS | 3,142,143 |
43 | Cuningham Group Architecture | 3,052,272 |
44 | Schrader Group Architecture | 3,047,414 |
45 | NORR | 2,976,836 |
46 | Hord Coplan Macht | 2,948,595 |
47 | Ratio Architects | 2,879,009 |
48 | Albert Kahn Associates | 2,775,253 |
49 | IBI Group ? Gruzen Samton | 2,500,000 |
50 | RS&H | 2,450,000 |
51 | Harvard Jolly Architecture | 2,097,387 |
52 | Shepley Bulfinch | 2,000,000 |
53 | Becker Morgan Group | 1,945,649 |
54 | Leo A Daly | 1,787,681 |
55 | Good Fulton & Farrell | 1,704,900 |
56 | KZF Design | 1,490,333 |
57 | Clark Nexsen | 1,441,748 |
58 | Little | 1,410,229 |
59 | LMN Architects | 1,223,400 |
60 | Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates | 1,213,567 |
61 | Environetics | 1,137,965 |
62 | Massa Montalto Architects | 1,056,000 |
63 | VOA Associates | 989,711 |
64 | Mithun | 930,000 |
65 | Gensler | 700,000 |
66 | WHR Architects | 699,316 |
67 | PGAL | 672,000 |
68 | Ennead Architects | 585,055 |
69 | Davis Brody Bond | 570,932 |
70 | DesignGroup | 538,710 |
71 | OZ Architecture | 487,900 |
72 | Kirksey | 466,989 |
73 | HNTB Corp. | 444,786 |
74 | Beyer Blinder Belle | 405,394 |
75 | CO Architects | 386,900 |
76 | RSP Architects | 377,000 |
77 | LawKingdon Architecture | 350,000 |
78 | Ziegler Cooper | 348,762 |
79 | Morris Architects | 335,000 |
80 | Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio | 320,000 |
81 | Cambridge Seven Associates | 305,000 |
82 | Ware Malcomb | 284,000 |
83 | Hoffmann Architects | 260,000 |
84 | CASCO Diversified Corp. | 250,000 |
85 | JRS Architect | 235,000 |
86 | Rosser International | 230,000 |
87 | Page | 229,000 |
88 | Nelson | 210,577 |
89 | Gresham, Smith and Partners | 200,000 |
90 | Hastings+Chivetta Architects | 169,568 |
91 | Nadel | 130,000 |
92 | Epstein | 108,000 |
93 | BSA LifeStructures | 106,426 |
94 | ATA Beilharz Architects | 104,525 |
95 | Niles Bolton Associates | 104,386 |
96 | Hensley Lamkin Rachel | 100,000 |
97 | GBBN Architects | 97,000 |
98 | Sherlock, Smith & Adams | 92,000 |
99 | Lord Aeck Sargent | 75,379 |
100 | Poskanzer Skott | 50,000 |
101 | TEG Architects | 11,928 |
Top K-12 School Sector Engineering Firms
Rank | Company | 2013 K-12 Revenue |
1 | AECOM Technology Corp. | $50,930,000 |
2 | URS Corp. | 47,642,239 |
3 | Jacobs | 35,150,000 |
4 | Parsons Brinckerhoff | 20,057,993 |
5 | TTG | 12,352,642 |
6 | STV | 8,018,000 |
7 | Shive-Hattery | 5,975,671 |
8 | KCI Technologies | 4,800,000 |
9 | Dewberry | 4,340,398 |
10 | Joseph R. Loring & Associates | 4,300,000 |
11 | Heapy Engineering | 4,079,921 |
12 | Thornton Tomasetti | 3,617,144 |
13 | Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates | 3,380,000 |
14 | Allen & Shariff | 3,000,000 |
15 | Interface Engineering | 2,934,922 |
16 | KJWW Engineering Consultants | 2,878,919 |
17 | Paulus, Sokolowski and Sartor | 2,800,000 |
18 | Brinjac Engineering | 2,677,720 |
19 | Simpson Gumpertz & Heger | 2,610,000 |
20 | M/E Engineering | 2,531,610 |
21 | Primera Engineers | 2,357,000 |
22 | French & Parrello Associates | 2,297,300 |
23 | Coffman Engineers | 2,147,260 |
24 | Henderson Engineers | 2,103,903 |
25 | Bridgers & Paxton Consulting Engineers | 2,024,344 |
26 | RDK Engineers | 1,880,000 |
27 | Wallace Engineering | 1,691,000 |
28 | KPFF Consulting Engineers | 1,625,000 |
29 | H.F. Lenz | 1,619,250 |
30 | Highland Associates | 1,600,000 |
31 | KLH Engineers | 1,384,045 |
32 | Glumac | 1,306,149 |
33 | AKF Group | 1,299,000 |
34 | Rist-Frost-Shumway Engineering | 1,000,000 |
35 | Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber | 1,000,000 |
36 | CJL Engineering | 994,410 |
37 | TLC Engineering for Architecture | 967,161 |
38 | M-E Engineers | 966,000 |
39 | Walter P Moore and Associates | 937,062 |
40 | Vanderweil Engineers | 808,300 |
41 | Karpinski Engineering | 720,037 |
42 | Sparling | 682,833 |
43 | Martin/Martin | 674,166 |
44 | SSOE Group | 664,516 |
45 | RMF Engineering | 650,000 |
46 | Aon Fire Protection Engineering Corp. | 540,000 |
47 | Newcomb & Boyd | 534,136 |
48 | Environmental Systems Design | 521,731 |
49 | Guernsey | 502,819 |
50 | I. C. Thomasson Associates | 500,000 |
51 | G&W Engineering Corp. | 484,000 |
52 | Wick Fisher White | 446,553 |
53 | Arup | 431,084 |
54 | CTLGroup | 400,000 |
55 | OLA Consulting Engineers | 308,400 |
56 | Kamm Consulting | 286,426 |
57 | DeSimone Consulting Engineers | 262,015 |
58 | GRW | 189,200 |
59 | Zak Companies | 178,364 |
60 | Dunham Associates | 150,000 |
61 | Mazzetti | 149,031 |
62 | Davis, Bowen & Friedel | 132,028 |
63 | Affiliated Engineers | 112,000 |
64 | Spectrum Engineers | 93,110 |
65 | Magnusson Klemencic Associates | 76,069 |
Top K-12 School Sector Construction Firms
Rank | Company | 2013 K-12 Revenue |
1 | Gilbane | $480,230,252 |
2 | Turner Construction | 419,619,000 |
3 | Balfour Beatty US | 372,288,885 |
4 | CORE Construction Group | 278,177,865 |
5 | Skanska USA | 212,802,648 |
6 | Swinerton Builders | 182,000,000 |
7 | Kraus-Anderson Construction | 181,000,000 |
8 | JE Dunn Construction | 167,798,654 |
9 | Consigli Construction | 151,997,147 |
10 | Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., The | 146,933,150 |
11 | Adolfson & Peterson Construction | 142,957,713 |
12 | Barton Malow | 142,524,833 |
13 | McCarthy Holdings | 140,400,000 |
14 | PCL Construction | 122,996,983 |
15 | Tutor Perini Corp. | 120,049,254 |
16 | McShane Companies, The | 118,124,887 |
17 | Flintco | 110,350,000 |
18 | KBE Building Corp. | 89,239,714 |
19 | Bernards | 85,000,000 |
20 | Sundt Construction | 69,522,647 |
21 | Absher Construction | 67,476,142 |
22 | LeChase Construction Services | 65,600,000 |
23 | Walsh Group, The | 62,965,887 |
24 | Wight & Company | 61,092,000 |
25 | Lend Lease | 59,255,000 |
26 | Haselden Construction | 55,166,396 |
27 | LPCiminelli | 54,810,831 |
28 | Shawmut Design and Construction | 51,000,000 |
29 | Ryan Companies US | 48,316,285 |
30 | URS Corp. | 47,642,239 |
31 | Yates Companies, The | 42,800,000 |
32 | Pepper Construction | 35,760,000 |
33 | C.W. Driver | 35,595,000 |
34 | E.W. Howell | 33,818,000 |
35 | Coakley & Williams Construction | 32,267,167 |
36 | Brasfield & Gorrie | 30,364,402 |
37 | Choate Construction | 30,237,395 |
38 | Bette Companies, The | 29,375,000 |
39 | S. M. Wilson & Co. | 25,725,568 |
40 | Suffolk Construction | 25,620,266 |
41 | EMJ Corp. | 24,000,000 |
42 | Parsons Brinckerhoff | 20,057,993 |
43 | Manhattan Construction | 19,124,000 |
44 | New South Construction | 17,650,000 |
45 | Hill & Wilkinson | 17,026,000 |
46 | Kitchell Corp. | 16,545,918 |
47 | Heery International | 14,994,535 |
48 | HITT Contracting | 14,900,000 |
49 | Robins & Morton | 13,176,447 |
50 | W. M. Jordan Company | 12,735,471 |
51 | Messer Construction | 12,453,591 |
52 | Structure Tone | 12,081,000 |
53 | Hill International | 12,000,000 |
54 | Boldt Company, The | 11,978,048 |
55 | Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction | 11,690,000 |
56 | James G. Davis Construction | 10,187,161 |
57 | Stalco Construction | 10,040,000 |
58 | STV | 8,018,000 |
59 | Hunt Construction Group | 7,000,000 |
60 | O'Neil Industries/W.E. O'Neil | 5,825,412 |
61 | Weis Builders | 3,389,000 |
62 | Beck Group, The | 3,117,539 |
63 | Allen & Shariff | 3,000,000 |
64 | Linbeck Group | 2,590,000 |
65 | Batson-Cook | 1,810,861 |
66 | Hoar Construction | 1,769,000 |
67 | Clark Group | 1,731,296 |
68 | James McHugh Construction | 1,460,905 |
69 | Weitz Company, The | 1,434,533 |
70 | IMC Construction | 1,433,690 |
71 | Astorino | 743,040 |
72 | JLL | 242,655 |
Read BD+C's full 2014 Giants 300 Report
Related Stories
| Mar 27, 2012
Groundbreaking held for Valencia College West Campus Building 10 in Orlando
Project led by design-build team of SchenkelShultz Architecture and McCree General Contractors, both of Orlando.
| Mar 27, 2012
Hollister Construction completes LEED Silver bank in Woodland Park, N.J.
Ground-up construction project included installation of solar panels.
| Mar 26, 2012
Jones Lang LaSalle completes construction of $536M Parkview Regional Medical Center
Hospital ushers in new era of local access to advanced medical treatments in Northeast Indiana.
| Mar 26, 2012
McCarthy tops off Math and Science Building at San Diego Mesa College
Designed by Architects | Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker, the new San Diego Mesa College Math and Science Building will provide new educational space for students pursuing degree and certificate programs in biology, chemistry, physical sciences and mathematics.
| Mar 26, 2012
Los Angeles County to host free green building training
Opportunity for residential and commercial building professionals to gain insight on state and county green building standards and regulations.
| Mar 26, 2012
Ball State University completes nation's largest ground-source geothermal system
Ball State's geothermal system will replace four aging coal-fired boilers to provide renewable power that will heat and cool 47 university buildings, representing 5.5-million-sf on the 660-acre campus.
| Mar 22, 2012
Hawaiian architecture firm chooses FRP trellis system over traditional materials
MGA Architecture plans to add five more trellis systems on the neighboring building.
| Mar 22, 2012
Moline Public Library uses copper as an exterior building material
Architects incorporate decorative copper panels to create the look of a heavy plate copper shingle.
| Mar 21, 2012
10 common data center surprises
Technologies and best practices provide path for better preparation.
| Mar 21, 2012
ABI remains positive for fourth straight month
Highest spike in inquiries for new projects since 2007.