Clark Dietz Introduces New Service Group

Consulting engineering firm Clark Dietz, Inc. has established a construction services group to enhance and support its existing transportation groups in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Chester Kochan, P.E., has been promoted to group manager and brings over 20 years of experience in the supervision of construction services for bridge and highway projects. Kochan is currently overseeing many major projects including:

· Rehabilitation of the 103^rd, 111^th, 112^th, 115^th, and 125^th Street bridges over I-57 in Chicago

· 22^nd Street reconstruction in Oakbrook Terrace, IL

· Traffic signal interconnect projects in DuPage County, IL

Clark Dietz engages in transportation, civil, environmental, mechanical, electrical, and structural engineering with over 140 professional staff members in regional offices in Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

Geotechnical Services Expands to Fort Collins

Geotechnical Services, Inc. (GSI) has expanded its operations to include a new office in Fort Collins, Colorado. GSI provides geotechnical engineering services in the Midwest with seven other offices in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. Heading up the Fort Collins branch office is newly named vice president Robin Dornfest, a 10-year veteran in the fields of geotechnical engineering and engineering geology and a Fort Collins resident since 2000. “I’m excited to lead GSI’s efforts here in Fort Collins,” says Dornfest. Dornfest has worked on a variety of projects throughout the U.S., including dams and reservoirs, large public works, earth retention and dewatering, and geologic hazard evaluation and mitigation.

“We were already doing a lot of work in Colorado and southern Wyoming,” says GSI President Chuck Brewer. “The addition of the new Fort Collins office allows GSI to better serve these areas. Dornfest knows the subsurface geology of the region and its potential for impacting projects.”

Geotechnical Services is a veteran-owned consulting firm specializing in geotechnical engineering, environmental services, professional drilling, construction materials testing (CMT), and special inspection services.

Century Engineering Announces its Latest LEED Gold Certified Project

Century Engineering, Inc. has announced its latest LEED Gold Certified project: The Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center. This certification marks the first museum in Pennsylvania and only fourth in the nation to achieve LEED Gold Certification. The $95-million Museum & Visitor’s Center accommodates approximately two million visitors a year.

Century provided mechanical engineering services including the design of heating, cooling, and ventilation systems for the nearly 250,000 square feet of visitor galleries, exhibit space, food service areas, and theaters in the new museum, including ground source heat exchange technologies (geothermal heating and cooling system). This latter system is one of the largest on the East Coast and will help to reduce the annual energy costs of the museum by nearly 50 percent.

Century Engineering is a multidiscipline engineering firm providing a range of design and construction engineering services to government agencies and various private industries throughout the United States. Century is headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland with offices in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Urban Engineers Celebrates 50 Years

Urban Engineers, Inc. is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year. In that time, Urban has engaged in regional planning, engineering design, environmental services and construction management. Areas of expertise include: aviation, bridges, highways, marine, program management, railroads, transit, traffic/ITS, environmental, urban planning, land development, and litigation support.

On August 1,1960, from the dissolution of Lawrence T. Beck and Associates due to bankruptcy, Urban Engineers was established by Robert Olson, P.E., president; Edward D'Alba, P.E., vice president ; and K. Yervant Terzian, P.E., secretary/treasurer. The founders set up their business in a row house at 1619 Chestnut St., Philadelphia. The Firm retained and completed several of Beck’s existing contracts. Urban focused its early work on highway, building, and bridge design, including such notable projects as the Delaware Expressway (I-95) and the Philadelphia Planning Commission’s urban renewal initiative, led by Edmund Bacon, whose design ideas helped shape the Philadelphia of today. D’Alba recalls, “Smaller projects were welcome too, like the mapping of underground utilities for the City of Philadelphia. This 'shelf work' kept the firm busy when major projects were slow to come.”

According to D’Alba, the founders were intimately involved in all aspects of the business. Each principal leader was responsible for an area of the firm - Olson for administration and sales, D’Alba for highways, and Terzian for bridge and building design. D’Alba recalls, “We were the chief, cook, and bottle washer. While we promoted work, managed projects, and administered the business, we also took turns emptying the trash baskets.” In 1993, principal ownership was transferred to the current leadership duo of Edward D’Alba, P.E., president and Joseph McAtee, P.E., executive vice president.

Today, Urban is a privately owned firm (ESOP) approaching 500 people in ten regional offices in seven states, with offices in Philadelphia, Mechanicsburg, and Erie, Pennsylvania; Cherry Hill, New Jersey; New Castle, Delaware; Baltimore, Maryland; Hartford, Connecticut; Dallas, Texas; and New York City and Buffalo, New York.

Some of the firm's most challenging and exciting projects currently underway include:

- Project management oversight of FTA Mega-Rail Projects: East Side Access and Second Avenue Subway (NYC)

- Walt Whitman Bridge re-decking (Philadelphia, PA)

- New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway widening

- New York City Economic Development Corporation’s South Bronx Greenway Project (NYC)

- $4 billion Guam Infrastructure and Improvement Program

With the need to rebuild America’s infrastructure, Urban’s future looks bright. D’Alba states, “Three Leaders, four employees, a lucky seven in total, rolled the dice and began a journey that has now lasted 50 years and shows no signs of slowing. The Urban family was groomed in the last fifty to be the best in the next fifty.”

Mechanical Engineer Lisa Li Joins Energy Squared

Energy Squared, an energy design consulting firm in North Brunswick, NJ, has introduced mechanical engineer Lisa Li as its director of mechanical engineering. A licensed Professional Engineer, Lisa is also designated as a LEED Accredited Professional. She brings to the company nearly 20 years of experience designing and optimizing HVAC systems in a variety of buildings both domestically and internationally.

Before joining the Energy Squared team, Lisa worked as an HVAC Engineer for firms such as Flack & Kurtz, Syska & Hennessy, and M&E Engineers. In those positions, Lisa had the opportunity to work on technically sophisticated buildings. She has provided HVAC system design, control operation, and energy economy analysis for new and existing commercial, industrial, institutional, residential, educational, telecom, and hospital buildings. In her new position at Energy Squared, Lisa will support the team in providing sophisticated, energy-cost-reducing, and sustainable engineering solutions.

James Foster Joins Las Vegas Office of Vanderweil Engineers

Boston-based Vanderweil Engineers, a mechanical and electrical consulting engineering firm, has announced that James Foster has joined the Las Vegas office as a mechanical/plumbing designer. Foster has nearly 20 years of experience in building systems design and has supported numerous hospitality, educational, residential, and institutional projects in the region.

A graduate of the University of Arizona with a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering, Foster’s expertise includes mechanical and plumbing design as well as smoke control design and quality control. He has worked on such large-scale projects as Wynn Las Vegas; Turnberry Tower III and IV; Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino; Palms Hotel & Casino; the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Greenspun Hall;and several government projects for Clark County.

Vanderweil Engineers has completed several notable projects since the establishment of the firm’s Las Vegas office six years ago. Major engineering projects have included the Palazzo at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, a 7.5-million-square-foot gaming and hospitality space that earned a LEED-NC Silver certification, and the Blueman Group Theatre located on the Venetian Casino Level adjacent to the Palazzo Hotel. Vanderweil also provided mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services for the new UNLV Greenspun Hall. The digital, high-definition broadcast facility features five stories and 117,000 square feet of space and earned a LEED-NC Gold certification. Vanderweil’s Las Vegas office offers building services engineering, technology services, central plant design, building performance simulation, energy and carbon management, and commissioning services.

R.G. Vanderweil Engineers, LLP specializes in mechanical, electrical, and plumbing system design, commissioning for buildings, and central heating and chiller plants, power generation, and transmission and distribution systems. In addition to a new Southern California office, the 330-employee firm has offices in Boston (headquarters), New York, Princeton, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, and Washington, D.C.

Baxter & Woodman Selected to Provide Services for Broadband Stimulus Program Grant Recipients

Baxter & Woodman, Inc., Consulting Engineers has been selected to provide engineering and environmental support services for the installation of high-speed fiber optic networks for several agencies. The projects are being funded in part through grants from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program as defined by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The program distributed $4.7 billion to provide affordable high-speed broadband connections to schools, healthcare providers, libraries, higher education, emergency services, local governments, and other anchor institutions in underserved areas. A portion of the network will be available to private industry to help attract and retain business. The network will also create opportunities to expand and improve residential broadband.

Baxter & Woodman’s engineering support will include:

· Preparation of an environmental assessment and wetland permitting for the installation of approximately 140 miles of fiber throughout DeKalb County, northern LaSalle County, and western Kane County in Illinois. This project is being led by DeKalb County.

· Preparation of an environmental assessment, outside plant engineering, and wetland and construction permitting for the installation of approximately 740 miles of fiber optic cable in a 23 county region in southern Illinois. This effort is being led by Clearwave Communications.

· Preparation of an environmental assessment for Sho-Me Technologies of Marshfield, Missouri. Sho-Me will install approximately 500 miles of fiber optic cable in a 30-county area.

· Preparation of an environmental assessment and wetland permitting for a broadband network that will spread across nine counties in northwest Illinois. Northern Illinois University received one of the largest grants in university history – $68.5 million to develop this project which includes extending broadband fiber optic to Whiteside, Stephenson, Ogle, Lee, Jo Daviess, Carroll, Winnebago, Boone and LaSalle counties in Illinois.

The installation of broadband fiber optics should be completed within three years.

Baxter & Woodman, Inc. is an employee-owned design firm that provides planning, design, construction, and technology services for water, wastewater, stormwater, and transportation facilities for municipalities, counties, and state agencies. Environmental, geographic information systems (GIS), water and wastewater operations, and advanced technology needs complement the firm’s civil engineering expertise. Clients are served from nine regional offices in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.