HDR, Inc.


HDR, Inc. is an employee-owned design firm, specializing in engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services. HDR has worked on projects in all 50 U.S. states and in 60 countries, including notable projects such as the Hoover Dam Bypass, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, and Roslin Institute building. The firm employs over 10,000 professionals and represents hundreds of disciplines in various markets. HDR is the 9th largest employee-owned company in the United States with revenues of over $2.2 billion in 2017.
Engineering News-Record ranked HDR as the 6th best design firm in the world out of 500 firms, up from 9th place in 2017.

History

In 1917, the Henningson Engineering Company started as a civil engineering firm in Omaha, where HDR's headquarters remain today. Willard Richardson and Charles W. "Chuck" Durham joined the firm in 1939 as interns. Circa 1950, Richardson and Durham had purchased shares in the firm, and it became known as Henningson, Durham and Richardson, Inc.
The company's first project was designing a power station for the city of Ogallala, Nebraska. Similar projects followed as the firm built water, sewer, electric, and road systems for cities and towns throughout the Midwestern United States, emerging from frontier status.
In 1983, Bouygues SA, France's largest construction company, purchased HDR for $60 million. An employee group bought back HDR in 1996 for $55 million. The company has since grown from 1,100 employees to over 10,000.

Sustainability

HDR was the first A/E firm to join the U.S. Green Building Council in 1994, and was involved in the development of the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating Tool. More recently, the firm received attention for its Sustainable Return on Investment process, wherein clients evaluate sustainable strategies today and into the future.
HDR also was one of the first firms involved with the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, which aims to do for infrastructure what the U.S. Green Building Council has done for buildings. HDR's project, the William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery, was the first to receive an Envision rating from ISI.
In the early 1990s, HDR formally established a Sustainable Solutions Program tasked with integrating sustainability into all business practices. Today, the program includes aspects of the A/E/C industry, climatology, building design, mobility, natural resources, climate change, renewable energy, land-use planning, and economic and environmental modeling.

Acquisitions

Since the employee buyout in 1996 from the French conglomerate Bouygues, HDR has acquired over 60 firms around the world. In February 2011, HDR acquired Cooper Medical, an Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, based firm providing integrated design and construction services for healthcare facilities throughout the U.S. The new alliance, HDR Cooper Medical, will provide a service design and construction delivery model to healthcare clients. In February 2011, HDR acquired Schiff Associates, a recognized leader in corrosion engineering headquartered in Claremont, California, with offices in Houston, Las Vegas, and San Diego. Schiff is now conducting business as HDR|Schiff.
In January 2011, HDR acquired HydroQual, Inc., which specializes in water resource management. Based in Mahwah, N.J., HydroQual has nine offices in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, Utah and Dubai. HydroQual is now conducting business as HDR|HydroQual. Also in January 2011, HDR acquired Amnis Engineering Ltd., based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The firm provides engineering and consulting services in British Columbia and a number of international locations for hydropower and water resources infrastructure.
In March 2013, HDR acquired TMK Architekten • Ingenieure, a German healthcare architecture firm. The merged company conducts business as HDR TMK and is the hub for HDR's healthcare and science design programs in Europe. HDR TMK has offices in Berlin, Dortmund, Duesseldorf, Erfurt, Kiel, and Leipzig, Germany.
In April 2013, HDR acquired Salva Resources, a global provider of technical and commercial services for mining exploration and investment in Brisbane, Australia.
In July 2013, HDR acquired the business and assets of Sharon Greene + Associates, a firm specializing in transportation economics and financial analysis.
In November 2013, HDR acquired Rice Daubney Architects, a firm in Sydney, Australia. The merged company conducts business as HDR|Rice Daubney and is the hub for HDR's healthcare, defence, retail, and commercial work in Australia and HDR's retail and commercial work throughout the globe.
In January 2015, HDR acquired the assets of MEI, LLC, a liquid natural gas engineering and consulting firm based in Pooler, Georgia.
In July, 2015, HDR acquired CEI Architecture of Vancouver, British Columbia, an architectural, planning and interior design consultant.
In September, 2017, HDR acquired long-time partner, Maintenance Design Group, a firm specializing in the planning and design of vehicle and fleet operations and maintenance facilities. HDR sought to add MDG's strengths in facility planning and design to complement its asset life-cycle approach to infrastructure development.
In 2018 HDR expanded its water resources services by acquiring the assets of David Ford Consulting Engineers, a firm based in Sacramento, California. The firm specializes in water hydraulics, flood risk analysis, reservoir systems and operations, water resource planning and hydro-economics.
In May 2019, HDR acquired Calthorpe Associates, an internationally recognized firm in regional planning, urban design and transit-oriented development.
In July 2019, HDR expanded its footprint in Europe and Asia by acquiring the British firm Hurley Palmer Flatt, as well as its subsidiaries.

Hurley Palmer Flatt

Hurley Palmer Flatt is a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy based in London. It provides mechanical and electrical engineering consultancy and associated services. It was established in 1968 in the UK by John Hurley as a building services consultancy. It has expanded into a global company operating in Dubai, India, Australia, Singapore and the US. It engages in both public and private sector development across a variety of fields.

History

In 2009 Hurley Palmer Flatt acquired ATCO Consulting, expanding their reach in Scotland. In 2014 they acquired mechanical and engineering firm Andrew Reid and Partners and have a majority controlling share of the business.
Recently, the company acquired a majority share in the Civil and Structural Engineering business, Bradbrook Consulting. Bradbrook have UK based offices in London, Kingston, Watford, and Manchester and also in Dubai.
In 2016, the company moved its central London office to 240 Blackfriars at the South Bank Tower on a 10-year lease as part of its expansion plan.
In 2019 the company was acquired by HDR Inc.

Projects

In 2015 the company completed the refurbishment of the award-winning 195-197 King’s Road in Chelsea for Martins Properties. The company was appointed by Henry Boot Developments to work on the Aberdeen Exhibition And Conference Centre Energy Centre.
Hurley Palmer Flatt were appointed to work on the renovation of the Weston Library at Oxford University, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Stirling Prize. They previously were the mechanical & electrical consultant for the renovated Archive & Book Storage Facility at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

Key Projects

Andrew Reid and Partners is a multi disciplinary engineering consultancy based in London. It provides mechanical and electrical engineering consultancy and associated services. It was established in 1970 in the UK by Andrew Reid as a building services consultancy. Its core services include diagnostic assessments of under performing buildings and the management or independent validation of building engineering services commissioning.

History

Andrew Reid specialise in critical engineering services design and commissioning and have worked on a variety of buildings in many sectors. Their work in commissioning began at the Barbican Arts Centre, through all fourteen phases of London's Broadgate development to the present day including the 750,000ft2 headquarters for UBS at 5 Broadgate in London.
Since the late 1990s, when internet services began to take hold in global communications Andrew Reid has been responsible for the successful commissioning of data centres for several of the world most successful brands, many of whom demand strict confidentiality.
Design engineers have been involved in work at The National Gallery since the mid 1980s when the company designed the building services for the new Sainsbury Wing. The company's designers have since been involved in many museums and galleries including Dulwich Picture Gallery, the National Maritime Museum and the Imperial War Museum.

Mergers

In 2014, building services consultancy Hurley Palmer Flatt acquired a majority controlling share in the business. In 2016, to accommodate the growth of the business in moved into 240 Blackfriars.

Key Projects

In 2018, the American Council of Engineers awarded the Grand Conceptor Award to HDR and joint venture partner WSP USA for the design and construction of a new roadway within the steel-arch Bayonne Bridge—64 feet above an existing highway it was to replace. The Grand Conceptor Award signifies the year's most outstanding engineering achievement. The recognition marked HDR's fourth Grand Conceptor in the company's 100-year history, and the second time that HDR received the award two years in a row. In 2017, the State Route 520 floating bridge earned the American Council of Engineering Companies' Grand Conceptor Award.
HDR also won back-to-back Grand Conceptor Awards in 2010 and 2011. The 2011 award winner was the Hoover Dam Bypass. HDR was the project manager for this project. The Hoover Dam Bypass won several other industry awards. The 2010 winner was the Gills Onions Advanced Energy Recovery System in Oxnard, California, which uses onion waste to produce renewable energy.

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