DESIGN, ENGINEERING TECH
Globenewswire | June 09, 2023
Stantec, a global leader in sustainable design and engineering, has signed an agreement to acquire Environmental Systems Design, Inc. (ESD), a 270-person engineering firm headquartered in Chicago. Founded in 1967, ESD has built a reputation for excellence and innovation in high-performance design with a roster of industry-leading clients. The terms of the transaction are not disclosed.
The acquisition of ESD significantly deepens Stantec’s expertise in mission critical facilities and data center design. Mission critical facilities represent a rapidly growing segment of purpose-built infrastructure that require an increased level of reliability. These facilities—spanning nearly every major industry—are designed to maintain building infrastructure, emergency dispatch, data storage, or other critical functions in the face of inclement weather and utility outages. Data centers, such as hyperscale facilities, require special, resilient design considerations developed by uniquely qualified teams with regular exposure to the evolving needs of large-scale companies.
The acquisition of ESD expands Stantec’s mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) and structural engineering practice by 40 percent in the US. These added resources significantly deepen the firm’s smart building engineering capabilities that support the workplace of the future and the emerging trends of decarbonization, building repositioning, and adaptive reuse.
“Merging talent with ESD positions Stantec as one of the top integrated design firms in the US market,” said Leonard Castro, executive vice president and business operating unit leader for Buildings at Stantec. “Our expanded services in data center, smart building design, and high-performance buildings will offer our clients the flexible and stable facilities that meet their operational needs into the future.”
“Stantec is a top-tier firm that shares our vision to improve society through the built environment,” said Raj Gupta, executive chairman at ESD. “ESD has increased the depth and breadth of its services in recent years. Joining Stantec expands our offering globally and creates exceptional career growth opportunities for our employees.”
Critical Project Experience
ESD provides data center design services for several industry-leading technology clients. ESD was recently retained by a confidential client to provide peer review and hyperscale data center design services and subsequently engaged in multiple hyperscale data centers on its behalf across the US. Hyperscale campus developments scale from a single 500,000 square foot (20 to 30 megawatts capacity) facility to multiple facilities spanning several million square feet (300+ megawatts capacity). Multiple sites throughout the country share a baseline design with local adaptations and are designed for efficient phased buildouts without interruption to live facilities.
Additional projects in ESD’s portfolio include
MEP and mission critical engineering for the United Airlines Network Operations Center in Chicago, a vital component of the airline’s day-to-day operations. Building Information Modeling (BIM) was used to route new systems through the existing structure and around existing systems. ESD worked closely with the City of Chicago and provided specialized consulting services in the areas of electrical and fire alarm codes to provide a unique furniture wiring design that met all of United’s needs.
MEP and fire protection engineering for the 1,400,000-square-foot expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center, one of the largest convention centers in the world. The new West Hall includes 600,000 square feet of flexible exhibition spaces with multiple infrastructure services including a variety of electrical power voltages and capacities, telecommunications, water and drainage, and natural gas. Ancillary program and support spaces include a concourse, meeting rooms, lobbies, and café/kitchen space.
MEP and fire protection engineering and energy modeling for Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital in Illinois. The 201-bed hospital was designed to meet future demand and modeled to achieve LEED Silver Certification. Energy conservation measures included optimizing the thermal performance of the façade while balancing the solar heat gain of the glass, external shading techniques, LED lighting, and more. ESD also reduced water-fixture use by 20 percent and domestic hot water usage by 26 percent.
Stantec has three existing offices in Chicago, for a total of five in Illinois. With a large concentration of employees in Chicago, ESD also has offices in New York City, San Francisco, and Phoenix. The acquisition will grow Stantec’s presence in Chicago to nearly 600 and to more than 2,050 in the broader US North Central region, which covers 12 states.
About Environmental Systems Design, Inc.
A global company, ESD is a leader in Improving Society Through the Built Environment. We create solutions that produce economic, environmental, and experiential benefits for our clients, many of whom are the biggest names in the worlds of business, technology — and beyond. We embrace technological change and are at the forefront of developing Intelligent Buildings. We emphasize innovation, adaptability, and sustainability when providing mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, life safety, structural, acoustical, technology, and commissioning engineering. For more information, please visit www.esdglobal.com.
About Stantec
Communities are fundamental. Whether around the corner or across the globe, they provide a foundation, a sense of place and of belonging. That's why at Stantec, we always design with community in mind.
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MATERIALS, CONSTRUCTION
PRnewswire | June 07, 2023
Kojo, the construction industry's leading materials and inventory management platform, today announced it has expanded to serve mechanical contractors.
"At Kojo, our mission has always been to simplify processes for our customers so that they can have more time back to do what's really important – build," said Maria Davidson, Kojo's founder and CEO. "Our mechanical Beta launch has been our most successful to date. We're thrilled that our mechanical customers are already seeing so much value with Kojo and we're excited to continue to onboard many more all over the country."
Since the offering launched in Beta, mechanical contractors have sent over 6,000 field requests to the office and created 17,000 purchase orders worth $50 million in Kojo. "By our calculation that's almost 6,000 times the field and office didn't have to call and email back and forth to figure out what was being ordered," Davidson added.
Alex Eldridge at Tharco, a leading mechanical contractor in Maryland, said, "Kojo has been really smart in the way they've customized this build for mechanical contractors. For example, there are many nicknames for parts out there and this can create confusion for communication between the field and office. Kojo has a preset catalog field users can order from that even supports slang terms for easy field-to-office part name translation. It's details like this that convinced us Kojo was for us."
The mechanical contracting market in the U.S. is huge and rapidly growing. More than $123 billion of mechanical work is done in the U.S. annually. The sector employs nearly 400,000 workers and that number is expected to grow by 5% through 2031.
Kojo's expansion into mechanical follows the launch of its Automated Invoice Matching product, which streamlines the accounting process for commercial trade contractors. This builds on Kojo's purchase order and delivery functionality, making Kojo a true all-in-one platform that allows customers to manage the full end-to-end materials procurement process. Automated Invoice Matching launched in Q2 of 2023 and to date has processed $9.2 million in invoices, catching mistakes on 27% of invoices processed.
Kojo announced their Series C in September of 2022. Kojo has now powered more than 10,000 construction projects across 47 states, saving customers 75% of the manual entry they previously had to do and reducing materials waste on jobsites by up to 90%.
About Kojo
Kojo is the construction industry's leading materials and inventory management platform. Kojo enables trade and self-perform general contractors to streamline every step in the procurement and inventory management process from takeoff to closeout. By connecting field, office, warehouse, accounting, and vendors teams on one software platform, Kojo gives contractors visibility into real-time materials spending and usage, helps them source the best prices and availability across vendors, reduces material waste, and increases labor productivity. To learn more, visit www.usekojo.com.
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ENGINEERING TECH, CONSTRUCTION
Businesswire | June 06, 2023
Bowman Consulting Group Ltd., today announced the acquisition of MTX Surveying, Inc. a geospatial, land survey and project management company based in Marshall, Texas. Founded by Shane Nafe and Austin Holland in 2016, the firm has grown rapidly to a workforce of over 60 accredited professionals, technicians, and support staff serving clients in Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico. Today, MTX provides full-service consulting, project management, surveying, mapping, and permitting services for clients working in oil and gas, energy and renewables, utility services, and land development. The MTX staff will all become Bowman employees in connection with the acquisition.
“Shane and Austin have built an exciting company,” said Gary Bowman, CEO of Bowman. “Their focus on oil and gas, energy, and renewables projects will help to accelerate our goal of increasing the contribution of power and utility-oriented assignments within our revenue mix. Their experience with aerial mapping, data capture, hi-res orthometric imagery, and drone surveying complements other recent acquisitions and investments we have made in geospatial technologies and services.”
“We’re pleased to be joining Bowman and are excited about the opportunities this acquisition provides,” said Shane Nafe, President and Founding Partner of MTX Surveying. “Bowman has an expansive national platform of clients, assignments, and engineering professionals to which we can contribute immediately. We’re ready to get started adding value and growing our collective energy services and geospatial practice.”
Financed with a combination of cash, seller notes, and equity, the acquisition falls within previously discussed target multiple and operating metric ranges and is expected to be immediately accretive. The Company anticipates the acquisition will initially contribute approximately $9 million of annualized net service billing. More detailed information on M&A activities, pipeline, and guidance updates are provided in connection with scheduled quarterly and annual communications.
About Bowman Consulting Group Ltd.
Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Bowman is an engineering services firm delivering infrastructure solutions to customers who own, develop, and maintain the built environment. With over 1,700 employees and more than 75 offices throughout the United States, Bowman provides a variety of planning, engineering, geospatial, construction management, commissioning, environmental consulting, land procurement and other technical services to customers operating in a diverse set of regulated end markets. Bowman trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol BWMN. For more information, visit bowman.com or investors.bowman.com.
About MTX Surveying, Inc.
MTX Surveying is a result driven geospatial, survey and aerial mapping firm serving Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, and other states across the United States. The company’s management team is experienced in the successful execution of projects across a wide range of industries including oil and gas, energy services, land development, municipal planning, and telecommunications. MTX has grown from two founding partners in 2016 to a team of multi-licensed professionals and experienced technicians. For more information on MTX Surveying, their projects, and services, visit https://www.mtxsurveying.com.
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