The American Institute of Architects latest business index may have dipped for the 14th straight month in March, but firms participating in the ENR New York and ENR New England 2024 Top Design Firms ranking remain hopeful.
“On the private side, we’ve submitted some of our biggest proposals ever in calendar year 2024 and have seen steady growth through existing client relationships and from our previous experiences with reviewing agencies,” says Gary McNaughton, executive vice president for engineering operations at Bowman. The firm ranks No. 46 in New England and at No. 64 in New York, reporting $9.94 million and $15.45 million in 2023 regional revenue, respectively.
According to the ENR New York survey, the 89 participating firms reported $6.42 billion in revenue from the region, a 9.18% increase from last year, when 98 firms posted $5.88 billion in revenue.
The top 10 firms in the New York region reported an 11.43% increase in revenue to $3.12 billion, with AECOM once again ranking first. The firm’s $636.20 million total is up 3.45% from $614.96 million last year. With an 8% revenue increase to $509.79 million, WSP USA is once again second, while Arcadis North America’s $326.45 million total helped the firm jump three slots to No. 3. It reported $217.29 million in revenue last year.
Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners, ranked No. 44 on the ENR New York top design firm list, designed the Urban Empowerment Center in New York City.
Image by Alexander Severin, courtesy of Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners
AECOM also leads in New England, with $264.74 million in design revenue reported from work in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The 58 firms on this year’s ranking reported revenue totaling $2.76 billion. That figure is 7% higher than last year when the top 59 firms reported $2.58 billion. New England’s top 10 performed $1.5 billion in work—up from last year’s $1.3 billion.
VHB, ENR New England’s Design Firm of the Year, ranks second with $211.58 million in revenue. WSP USA is third in New England with $187.14 million in revenue, up 1.38% from last year’s $184.60 million. Ranked No. 21 on the New York list, H2M is this year’s ENR New York Design Firm of the Year.
Chart by ENR
Taking Off
Transportation continues to be a leading sector across the Northeast. New York’s top 10 firms in that market performed $1.72 billion worth of work regionally. “We’re in the midst of unprecedented investment in large-scale transportation projects, such as the Gateway Program, Moynihan Train Hall and the Second Avenue Subway,” says Gary Sorge, Stantec vice president for community development. The firm is No. 13 on the New York list with $164.02 million in revenue and No. 4 on the New England ranking with $169.74 million. “Congestion pricing is expected to sustain investment in public transportation," he says.
“On the private side, we've submitted some of our biggest proposals ever in calendar year 2024.”
—Gary McNaughton, Executive Vice President for Engineering Operations, Bowman
Alan Poeppel, managing principal at Langan, which ranks No. 7 in New York with $223 million and is working on both the Gateway program and the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway expansion, sees its support of complex private developments translating well into work on infrastructure projects—particularly aviation “and all facets of renewable energy and grid resilience.”
Langan is working on several projects within the John F. Kennedy International Airport Redevelopment, including as engineer-of-record for three of the terminal expansions.
New England’s transportation work climbed 9.15% to $646.18 million. “The public markets remain strong for us,” Bowman’s McNaughton says. “We have some ongoing infrastructure and bus transit improvement projects underway that will continue for the next several years as we work through design and construction.”
Bowman Consulting Group, No. 46 on the New England list and No. 64 on the New York ranking, designed the Inman Square Intersection Improvements project in Cambridge, Mass.
Image by Beverly Drone Pilot, courtesy of Bowman Consulting Group
More Affordable
New York’s multifamily residential work has slowed partially due to “the uncertain economy, rising interest rates and the end of 421a state affordable housing tax credits,” says David Freedman, chief operating officer of Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners, ranked at No. 44 in New York with revenue of $33.25 million.
But with the new 485x investment credit replacing 421a and a potential stabilizing of interest rates, Freedman is “hopeful of a rebound soon. We remain confident in New York, which has been written off many times before,” he says, adding that “long-standing clients are committed to this city, a place that is still attractive to developers, corporations and institutions.”
Chart by ENR
But Stantec’s Sorge worries that the level of federal funding enjoyed by municipalities the past few years will dry up. “It is not a sustainable source,” he says. “We may find that our municipal budgets aren’t sufficient to sustain the next round of public sector capital projects.”
He is “bullish” on the region’s small cities, however, “especially as new graduates enter the workforce in the Northeast. They’ll be looking for a city to call their own.”
