Despite patches of weakness and some lagging sectors in the region, many the Midwest's Top Design Firms showed a significant uptick in revenues last year, evidence that business conditions are improving in the nation's heartland, if not at the rate of in the Southeast, West and Southwest.
Large and diversified firms involved in transportation, infrastructure and power continue to dominate, despite the see-sawing nature of those sectors in the region. If you're a transportation engineer in Illinois, you're likely gearing up. If you're in Missouri, you know work may come to a screeching halt.
Many buildings-oriented firms in the region spent the year treading water – no huge losses, but no real gains either. Industry economists say prospects for office and retail sectors look better this year. Hospitality has done well and so has multifamily housing.
There is still the problem of Detroit, and Chicago isn't out of the woods either. The latter has invested heavily in infrastructure and attractions in recent years to boost tourism and attract business, and by and large done a good job of it. Question is whether a persistently poor economy and a potentially crippling debt load will catch up to it. We'll have to see.
Meantime, what follows is an alphabetical listing of the region's Top 75 design firms, as measured by revenues last year. Firms will be listed by rank and revenue in the May 19 edition of ENR Midwest.
AECOM Technology Corp.
Affiliated Engineers Inc.
Alfred Benesch & Co.
American Structurepoint Inc.
ARCADIS U.S.
Ayres Associates
Beam, Longest and Neff
Bernardin Lochmueller & Associates Inc.
BSA LifeStructures
Burns & McDonnell
Cannon Design
Cardno
CHA Consulting Inc.
Clark Dietz Inc.
Collins Engineers Inc.
Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc.
CSO Architects
DLR Group
DLZ Corp.
Donohue & Associates Inc.
ESD (Environmental Systems Design, Inc.)
Excel Engineering Inc.
Fanning/Howey Associates Inc.
Farnsworth Group Inc.
FGM Architects Inc.
Gensler
Ghafari Associates
GPD Group
GRAEF
Hanson Professional Services Inc.
Harley Ellis Devereaux
HDR
Heapy Engineering
Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Inc.
Henneman Engineering Inc.
HNTB Corp.
H.W. Lochner Inc.
KJWW Engineering Consultants
Lawrence Group
Legat Architects Inc.
Manhard Consulting
McMahon
Mead & Hunt Inc.
Michael Baker International
ms consultants, inc.
MWH Global Inc.
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Patrick Engineering Inc.
PCI Skanska
Perkins+Will
Primera Engineers
Process Plus
RATIO Architects Inc.
Resource International Inc.
Schmidt Associates Inc.
SmithGroupJJR
Soil and Materials Engineers Inc.
Solomon Cordwell Buenz
Stanley Consultants
Stantec
Strand Associates Inc.
Superior Engineering
Surveying And Mapping Inc. (SAM Inc.)
Symbiont - Science, Engineering and Construction Inc.
Terracon Consultants Inc.
Thornton Tomasetti Inc.
TranSystems Corp.
United Consulting
V3 Cos.
VOA Associates Inc.
Vocon
Wight & Co.
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc.
Woolpert Inc.
Zimmerman Architectural Studios Inc.
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