Weeks after announcing plans to purchase ECO:LOGIC Engineering and Anshen + Allen, the Canadian mega-firm Stantec reported today that it has signed of letter of intent to buy Pennsylvania-based Burt Hill Architects.
The acquisitions would mark the seventh, eighth, and ninth for Stantec this year. “We have the largest architecture firm in Canada, and we wanted to build something similar in the U.S.,” says Jay Averill, company spokesman.
Burt Hill has more than 600 employees in 13 offices, including three offices overseas. As of now, all of Burt Hill’s locations will remain open, says Averill. With $88 million in revenue, Burt Hill ranks 21st on Architectural Record’s Top 250 Firms list.
Stantec, with revenues of $1.5 billion, currently ranks 24th on Engineering News-Record’s Top 150 Global Design Firms list—up from the 28th spot in 2009. However, only $47 million of its U.S. revenue is from architectural design work, putting it at 51st on Architectural Record’s Top 250 Firms list.
Burt Hill and Anshen + Allen’s expertise in the health care, education, and science and technology markets—along with their global portfolios—could boost Stantec’s architectural practice in the U.S. and abroad. “When you add what we have at Stantec,” Averill says, “you have an architecture firm that can compete for any health care or education project in the world.”
Editor's note: According to Stantec spokesman Jay Averill, Stantec derives approximately $130 million in global design revenue. The $47 million mentioned in the story refers to Stantec's U.S. design revenue.
