Dive Brief:
- Canada–based Stantec Engineering has announced it will open a new office in Honolulu, according to Pacific Business News.
- The architecture and engineering company, which has 400 offices around the world and 22,000 employees, hopes to increase its client base in the Islands after having worked on various projects there for the last 15 years.
- Most notably, Stantec was involved in the rebuilding of Kauai after Hurricane Iniki and is currently working on Honolulu's $9.5 billion rail initiative.
Dive Insight:
In addition to its organic growth during the last few years, Stantec has also made some significant acquisitions. In February of last year, the company announced its plans to purchase Chicago architecture firm VOA Associates through a stock deal. Stantec closed on the purchase in May 2016 and took on the company's 280 employees, as well as its offices in Beijing and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Also, in March of last year, Stantec announced a cash deal to buy Colorado-based water system design-build company MWH Global Inc. for $795 million. The acquisition was largely responsible for increasing Stantec's headcount from 15,000 to where it is today after the company absorbed MWH's 6,800 employees in its 187 global offices.
And in November, Stantec purchased Houston-based KBR's engineering and construction unit — Infrastructure Americas — for $19 million. KBR's transportation, water/wastewater and aviation division was able to provide Stantec with an expanded presence in Texas' and Alabama's Gulf Coast regions.
Stantec's reported involvement in the Honolulu rail project doesn’t rise above consulting, but if that role expands, the company has its work cut out for it. Costs on that project have risen $3 billion since the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation gave an initial estimate earlier in 2016.
Allegations of mismanagement and a funding gap already had the project in jeopardy before the November presidential election. When President Donald Trump released his 2018 budget proposal last week, however, the project suddenly had a new obstacle. The project could be at risk of losing Federal Transit Administration funding if Trump is successful and wins the elimination of the agency's capital investment program.