The Global Years

2000-2009

Introduction

A Work in Progress,
A Decade in Progress,
A History of the Past, or
A History or Strategic Actions.

The challenge facing the authors of this overview of the Global Years decade, has been and continues to be, what to choose as topics. Unlike past decades with the opportunity to look back with clarity to see what made history within CH2M HILL, one can only guess what this section might look like 10 years into the future. We solicit your input. Comments can be addressed to Dave Evans.

CH2M HILL’s quarterly publication, “Unlimited,” and the book “Building a Better World – 1946-2009” were the sources of 280 potential history topics. Key articles have been selected for this history text. These articles are hyperlinked back to the original articles should the reader want to see the entire version.

The decade commencing with the year 2000 was characterized primarily by the spirit of dynamism and reformation. The flow of change and ventures into new areas of endeavor seemed to accelerate at a meteoric pace. Two main factors accented the pace of changes that began to evolve: first the foresightedness of the corporate staff in building a leadership team that was forceful and bold, and then creating a professional and support staff to expedite the flow of global projects that were being won in a seemingly endless stream.

The corporate structure was refashioned several times to facilitate the administrative and operational functions of a firm that was growing exponentially in size. As the workload and the staff count grew, new concepts in business development and project execution /control evolved. Their successful outcome came to the attention of the world at large and that led to even greater success in obtaining larger and evermore publicly visible projects.

The roots of change were grounded in the CH2M HILL people, their technology and intellectual property, the awards received, the acquisitions undertaken, the design-build and design-build-operate approaches, the business sector organizational approach, a continual emphasis on safety, and the new internal stock Ownership and Incentive Compensation Program (O&ICP).

CH2M HILL had grown from a firm in 2000 with gross revenues of $1.2 billion, a staff count exceeding 7,000, and stock trading price of $6.34 per share to a firm by the end of 2009 with gross revenues of over $6 billion, a staff count exceeding 23,000, and a stock trading price of $40.91 per share.

For this “Global Years” decade, CH2M HILL was now a huge operation with world-wide-flung interests. Engineering News-Record was showing the firm as number 1 in the Design/Consulting category…. and it was still growing!

As a result of the explosive growth in both people and projects, a different “surf/search” approach has been taken for this decade. A vignette entitled “Topical Outline – The Global Years of 2000 to 2007” has been added to the CH2M HILL History website. Readers of this decade may go directly to the year of interest by clicking on the links below, or alternatively they may go directly to the Topical Outline and see a summary of the 260+ CH2M HILL Unlimited publication articles of this decade. Each summary article in the individual years and the Topical Outline has a direct link to that complete Unlimited article.

2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Topical Outline

2000

CH2M HILL – 2000
The inaugural O&ICP CH2M HILL stock trade was a major success with more than 2.4 million shares of stock being bought or sold at value $15.1 million on March 17, 2000. Approximately 2,730 employees, representing 30 percent of those eligible to participate, now directly own CH2M HILL stock or stock equivalents. Since the first of the year, 1,755 of those employees became owners for the first time. (View Unlimited Article)

Awards – 2000
On November 21, 2000, President Clinton and Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta announced that Operations Management International (OMI) is one of four companies to receive this year’s Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. This award is the Pulitzer prize of quality. Norman Mineta in a White House statement says, “President Clinton and I congratulate the men and women of these four organizations … as the 2000 recipients of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. As the first group of winners in the 21st century, they exemplify the Baldrige themes of excellence, global competitiveness, partnerships, empowerment, innovation and life-long learning. They can proudly serve as role models for an organization wanting to improve the way they operate.” (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources – 2000
The Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources Group, CH2M HILL International and its Singapore partner, PWC, partnered to win a $124-million contract to design and manage construction of the Changi Wastewater Treatment Plant, first described as a planning study in the 1997 history. The initial phase was to have a capacity of 800,000 cubic meters per day (211 mgd). John Filbert led the previous pre-design effort. During final design, the great cast of 1,000’s included Dave Evans as project director, Gary Guyll as design manager, and Rick Smith as leader of the Corvallis Design Center. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Highways, Overpasses, and Bridges
The Florida Department of Transportation selected CH2M HILL to conduct a project development and environmental study for the expansion of 43 miles of Interstate 95 – the major East Coast highway that runs from northern Maine to South Florida. The study will examine widening of I-95 from four to six lanes between State Route 514 interchange and SR 50 near the John F. Kennedy Space Center. Mark Callahan, Project Manager, states “We have an excellent project team, and the Orlando transportation group has developed very good relationships with FDOT based upon its performance on previous projects.” (View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector (Governmental, Environmental and Nuclear) – Nuclear – 2000
The Nuclear Group’s Hanford project scope of work grew with the termination of BNFL (British Nuclear Fuels Limited) contract with the DOE, said Garry Cusack, Project Delivery Vice President; and Kitty Bryan, Project Director. (View Unlimited Article) The project reached a major milestone by removing more than a million gallons of radioactive waste from aging underground tanks. CH2M HILL had ties to Hanford dating back to the early 1960s. (View Unlimited Article)

The Nuclear Group’s joint venture Kaiser-Hill signed a $4-billion, first-of-its- kind contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) to clean-up and close Rocky Flats. This new “closure contract” measured performance against safety, budget, and schedule to close the plant by 2006. (Refer to the 1995 History for the original agreement). (View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector (Governmental, Environmental and Nuclear) – Environmental – 2000
Eighty percent of the pollution in our watersheds comes from hard-to-identify and control sources – sources at the heart of work underway by Ken Hall and Doug Baughman of CH2M HILL’s Atlanta Office. During the past two and a half years the Atlanta office earned $10 million form watershed-related studies in 11 northern counties, making the office the state’s dominated watershed planning group.
(View Unlimited Article)

2001

CH2M HILL – 2001
CH2M HILL’s design and construction organization (DCO) came into being with 1,200 employees focused on 4D (3D with design data automation). DCO staff turned engineering visions into reality by partnering with CH2M HILL business groups and clients during the project-delivery process from procurement to completion. Approximately 400 of the total DCO staff provided construction management services to CH2M HILL and other consultant design projects on over 240 projects in the U.S. and Canada with a total construction value exceeding $2 billion. (View Unlimited Article)

In 2002 CH2M HILL’s 1,100 Denver-based employees, currently housed in three locations, will be combined into two buildings on a single campus. (View Unlimited Article)

People – 2001
The people of CH2M HILL have been part of the roots of the firm’s great rise to the best in the world. (View Unlimited Article) Jim Howland remarked as he celebrated 85 years of taking life head-on. (View Unlimited Article) Phil Hall stepped down at the end of 2000 as CH2M HILL Chairman Emeritus and as Southwest Regional Manager in March of this year. (View Unlimited Article) As described in the 1998 CH2M HILL history, the firm has worked in Egypt for more than 20 years. One of our U.S. expatriates, C. “Teny” Mittal, nears two decades in Egypt after accepting a 2-year assignment to work in the land of the pharaohs and pyramids. (View Unlimited Article)

Awards – 2001
Awards received by CH2M HILL or its staff have also been part of the roots of the Firm. This year the top Water Environment Federation (WEF) honor, the Harrison Prescott Eddy Medal, went to Glen Daigger of the Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources Group, for his proprietary research into pre-thickening aerobic digestion, and staged aerobic/anoxic operation. (View Unlimited Article) The Transportation Group also received an American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award for the Whittier Access Project that provides first-time highway access to Whittier, Alaska. (View Unlimited Article)

Acquisitions – 2001
Acquisitions have been another root of the firm. During this year CH2M HILL built a bridge from the U.S. to India to establish a new Delhi design center dedicated to high-quality production at lower costs. (View Unlimited Article)

The Industrial Design Corporation (IDC) formed an intellectual properties and technology division and acquired a facilities management company to help better serve clients and create an environment for new ideas to develop. For example new exhaust management products, AutoChem and TransChem 150 helped protect the environment. IDC’s Facilities Services Group also acquired Phoenix-based Facilities West, which serves clients all over the U.S. through a network of five regional offices. (View Unlimited Article)

Design-Build and Design-Build-Operate – 2001
This year design-build (DB) and design-build-operate (DBO) became an important tool in the CH2M HILL tool chest. Civil Infrastructure projects included: (1) A $236-million DB-warranty, 17-mile project with six new interchanges, modification to another two interchanges, 23 new bridges for Virginia State Highway 288 (View Unlimited Article); and (2) the Cedar River DBO Project where a $109-million water treatment project was contracted with the Seattle, WA Public Utilities Department. This 108-mgd facility features environmentally friendly ozonation and ultraviolet light processes to disinfect the Cedar River. (View Unlimited Article) In New Zealand, a DB 20-mgd ultra filtration plant builds on Singapore and other New Zealand experience to deliver fresh water. (View Unlimited Article) CH2M HILL Australia, in partnership with Sidney Water and selected partners, are upgrading 330 pumping stations by DB. The DB market has traditionally turned to others to provide construction management. CH2M HILL Australia has broken this trend and is providing construction management. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources – 2001
Clients’ repeat business and loyalty have been equally important to the success of CH2M HILL. This year the Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources Group celebrated 50 years of firsts in its history of service to Willamette, Oregon. (View Unlimited Article)

Speaking of Singapore, much of the Changi Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) project will be underground thus allowing much needed area above for light manufacturing and water reclamation on this 248-square-mile island with more than 4 million residents. Once the Changi WRP is complete the facility will replace six smaller plants and will allow for reclamation by ultra filtration for reuse by microelectronics manufacturing and other high tech industries. Initially in 2008-2009, the Changi WRP will treat more than 211 mgd and will be expandable to 634 mgd. Influent will flow through the massive underground Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) [Also refer to the 1997 History for more introductory information] to where it will enter the influent pumping station and be lifted the height of a 20-story building and be processed to meet the highest international standards before being discharged. The influent pumping station consists of three large shafts each housing five 106-mgd pumps. After 12 hours of treatment, the effluent will flow either to the water reclamation plants or be discharged in an underground outfall 115 feet below the surface of the Straits of Singapore. The Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources Group deep tunnel in Singapore pays off. General consensus among competitors in 1996 was that CH2M HILL, “the new kid on the block in Singapore,” would not stand a chance of winning the island’s Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) project. Now they know better. (View Unlimited Article)

The Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources Group, in parallel with its Singapore effort, participated in an innovative intake and pumping station design that protects fish and enhances a recreation area. A new 160-mgd pumping station, looking like a boat, is in the Sacramento River, adjacent to Sacramento, California.(View Unlimited Article) The Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources Group together with CH2M HILL Constructors, Inc. (CCI) are putting the finishing touches on a landmark an upgrade to a 100-mgd water treatment plant adjacent to the Hillsborough River, Florida. The City of Tampa’s water treatment plant, originally put into service in 1925, has been designated as a landmark by the American Water Works Association (AWWA). (View Unlimited Article) Also the Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources Group designed an underground wastewater treatment plant for Gwinnett County, GA with advanced technology only in six other plants in the U.S. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Highways, Overpasses, and Bridges – 2001
The Transportation Group continued to grow and blossom with successful and interesting projects. The EPA praised the FEIS prepared by CH2M HILL for the Highway 93 bypass and bridge in front of Hoover Dam. (View Unlimited Article) CH2M HILL, a member of the California State’s earthquake Design Task Force, has designed and provided construction management throughout that state, including three San Francisco Bay Area bridges. (View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector (Government, Environmental, and Nuclear) – Government Facilities and Military Operations – 2001
Similar to the Transportation Group’s 2001 experience, the Federal Business Sector’s Government Facilities and Military Operations Group built upon its 2000 successful efforts by helping deliver a new technology to the U.S. Army that was aimed at helping destroy the stockpile of chemical weapons (View Unlimited Article); and through CCI built a long-term relationship with the U.S. Air Force. CCI signed its fourth consecutive $200-million contract to design, construct, and operate facilities to clean-up air, water, and soil contamination.
(View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector (Government, Environmental, and Nuclear) – Nuclear – 2001
The Nuclear Group built upon its 1990-2000 decade of success by adding a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) client and by moving the Hanford closure forward in a very positive way. DOE awarded the Nuclear Group a 6-year, $19-million prime contract to perform the first decommissioning characterization phase at the historic Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory,(View Unlimited Article); and asked CH2M HILL to clean up the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, INEEL, established in 1949 as the site for the world’s largest concentration of nuclear reactors. (View Unlimited Article) The Hanford vitrification plant and its associated utilities and infrastructure removal projects were completed ahead of schedule and were removed from the Congressional Safety Watch List.(View Unlimited Article) When routine sampling revealed higher-than-normal levels of tritium in the groundwater around a solid nuclear waste landfill, CH2M Hanford, Inc. used an innovative technique to assess the extent of the contamination. (View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector (Government, Environmental, and Nuclear) – Environmental – 2001
Through the Environmental Groups efforts, CH2M HILL was again helping out in Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Infrastructure Finance Authority called upon the firm to help six treatment plants improve their compliance with the U.S. Clean Water Act and to determine the effects of primary effluent discharge on marine water quality and ecology. (View Unlimited Article)

Industrial Business Sector – Electronics and Advanced Technology
CH2M HILL is providing management and design services for a fixed wireline network which will provide telephone, television, and high speed data capability to millions of homes and industry throughout Spain. (View Unlimited Article)

2002

CH2M HILL – 2002
Construction Services, a group within CH2M HILL’s Design and Construction Organization, grew 6 percent between January and July to 344 employees working on 138 projects with a total estimated construction value of $11 billion. The group focused on third-party construction management and DB projects. (View Unlimited Article)

A college honored CH2M HILL by renaming its training center after firm. The Columbia River College (near Hanford) recently renamed its Work Force Training Center to the CH2M HILL Technology Education Center. Two years ago, CH2M HILL gave a $2-million, no-strings-attached endowment to the college. (View Unlimited Article)

The CH2M HILL corporate headquarters move to a new campus nears the final stretch. [Editor’s note: Good construction photo description of what will be housed in each of the three campus buildings.] (View Unlimited Article)

People – 2002
Burke Hayes, the second “H” in CH2M HILL, was recognized for his achievements as he celebrated his 90th birthday. Our people, like the founders, continue to be a major root in the growth of the CH2M HILL. [Editor’s note: A good read was the entire fourth quarter of Unlimited, devoted to the people of CH2M HILL] (View Unlimited Article) Water for People program runs deep within CH2M HILL by providing community relations, worldwide, (Editor’s Note: An excellent article about contributions by staff) (View Unlimited Article) Projects all over the world shape the careers of CH2M HILL staff. This time the great staff of the Transportation Group, from the Civil Infrastructure Business Sector, are featured as a result of one of CH2M HILL’s largest Colorado highway projects begun in 1992.
(View Unlimited Article)

Intellectual Property and Patients – 2002
The concept of intellectual property and development of patients was formalized by Glen Daigger earlier in this decade. During this year, Paul Mueller and Tony Meyers received a pending patent for combining vacuum-driven hollow-fiber ultrafiltration with a suspension of small ion exchange beads. (View Unlimited Article) Later in the year, Mitch Lindsay and Jim Mavis received a volatile organic carbon, or VOC recovery process patent for their work on a centralized distillation system connected to adsorbers at each paint booth on Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah. (View Unlimited Article) Composting invention gives firm entry into a new aspect of waste management. The composting patent, developed by Jan Allen, Energy, Environmental and Systems Business Group, and Chuck Kemper, Waste Management market segment leader, have developed and patented the C:N Compost System to compost garbage. The flagship system is currently operating in Eugene, Oregon. (View Unlimited Article)

Acquisitions – 2002
The Civil Infrastructure Business Sector’s Transportation Group’s port capabilities were significantly strengthened by the acquisition of Gee & Jenson. This firm brought 200 professionals and 50 years of ports and harbor practice history to CH2M HILL. Phil Crannel, newly assigned director of ports and former chairman of Gee & Jenson, will lead the effort. When one combines CH2M HILL’s public port capabilities (35 different ports and ranked No. 4) with Gee & Jenson’s cruise, maritime, and military experience (27 different ports and ranked No. 8), it is clear that the range of services that the combined team will offer is unmatched by any other firm.
(View Unlimited Article)

The Federal Business Sector strengthens their market position by acquiring DeMil International to position CH2M HILL to take advantage of a potentially significant market position in the ordnance explosives/unexploded ordnance market. (View Unlimited Article)

Aketon Technologies became a member of CH2M HILL’s Industrial Sector. The firm specializes in designing and manufacturing unique pollution-control systems and custom process equipment. New capabilities Aketon Technology brought to CH2M HILL included a 15,000-square-foot facility where toxic, flammable, pyrophonic and poisonous gas can be safely stored for testing; and outdoor and indoor prototype testing capabilities. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources – 2002
An update from the Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources Group: (1) The colossal Changi project in Singapore, a year after groundbreaking, requires millions of cubic yards of concrete, 5,000 onsite workers, and hundreds of engineers, and has been right on schedule and budget. Construction Services, a group within CH2M HILL’s DCO, has been providing all construction management. Keeping the project on track has also been an extraordinary task considering that the majority of construction is underground and includes 22 contractors;(View Unlimited Article) (2) the Cedar River groundbreaking took place;(View Unlimited Article) and (3) 42 of the 242 pumping stations in Sidney, Australia were fixed in the first 6 months.(View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Airports, Harbors, and Ports – 2002
The Transportation Group has been taking off by designing runways at the Washington D.C. Dulles International Airport. In a 50/50 partnership with Carter Burgess, two new 10,000- foot runways were being designed. (View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector – (Governmental, Environmental, and Nuclear) – Nuclear – 2002
A new client for the Nuclear Group began preliminary work for a proposed nuclear facility in Illinois. CH2M HILL has been leading the site evaluation and site permitting for the company to build the first nuclear power plant since 1979. (View Unlimited Article) Major milestones are met at Hanford for the largest clean-up in the United States. (View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector – (Governmental, Environmental, and Nuclear) – Environmental – 2002
The Environmental Group and an industrial company have been working together to set the highest and most rigorous methods for measuring, and reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. CH2M HILL recently evaluated the quality of the company’s current GHG measurement and reporting processes in one of the most detailed GHG management system audits ever developed. Now CH2M HILL has been retained to develop a leading-edge GHG management manual and a comprehensive GHG information management solution for an industrial company. CH2M HILL created a world-class GHG auditing system to determine the extent to which that company’s program efficiently identified and tracked emissions, encouraged emission reductions, optimized potential value of the industrial company’s emissions-reduction portfolio, and provided verifiable reporting. The industrial company will not be stopping at just developing a reporting system. CH2M HILL energy and emission’s experts have been also been retained to identify and evaluate emission reduction opportunities. (View Unlimited Article)

This year the Environmental Group’s fish protection efforts in California’s Central Valley and the San Francisco Bay Delta accounted for more than 80 percent of the fish passage improvements. (View Unlimited Article) The Environmental Group also won a 3-year, $90-million environmental contract to maximize value creation for company minimizing long-term cost of ownership associated with environmental liabilities. (View Unlimited Article)

Industrial Business Sector – CH2M HILL General – 2002
CH2M HILL’s Colorado Springs Office soon will become a center for graphic information systems, providing services to the U.S. Department of Defense and other clients. The office is increasing its staff by year’s end to 45, with some employees relocating from other offices, including Redding, California. (View Unlimited Article)

2003

CH2M HILL – 2003
An article in CH2M HILL Unlimited on Major Projects provided the following data: Over the past 6 years, CH2M HILL Companies have delivered more than 20,000 projects for more than 4,000 clients on every continent around the globe. Of those 20,000 projects, more than 90 percent generated revenues of less than $500,000 annually and nearly 75 percent generated revenues of less than $100,000 annually. This same data showed that approximately 10 percent of the projects generated more than two-thirds of the companies’ total revenues and the top 1 percent generated more than one-quarter of the total revenues. Still the firm planned to continue to seek small as well as large projects to maintain its marketplace differentiator. [Editor’s Note: While such a personal intervention is highly unusual, this article defines CH2M HILL’s growth from the 1980s onward and CH2M HILL history buffs would do well to read the referenced article. This article describes extremely well the CH2M HILL vision that began to ferment in the 1980s and exploded in the decade of the 2000s!] (View Unlimited Article)

Safety – 2003
At Rocky Flats, Kaiser-Hill assembles more than 50 managers and Department of Energy staff each day to review safety issues and implement changes when necessary. In 2002, more than 9.5 million man-hours were worked-work considered the most dangerous in the nation-without a serious work-related injury. Since 1995 when the project began, the rolling average to total recordable case rates has dropped to 1.87 incidents per 200,000 work hours as compared to overall construction industry with nearly 8 incidents per 200,000 work hours. “We are never satisfied with our safety performance,” said Jerry Lyle, vice president and program manager for Safety, Engineering, and Quality Programs. Workers participate in the Joint Company Union Safety Committee, which includes 18 full-time union safety representatives. Safety professionals, managers, and experienced workers provide expertise to eight centers of excellence to find solutions to safety and technical issues as they arise. (View Unlimited Article)

People – 2003
After 8 years, CH2M HILL’s work at Lviv, Ukraine, came to a close and a 32-year veteran of the firm retired. At 67, Kris Buros, who had spent the lion’s share of his career working in far-flung locales worldwide recently returned to Colorado after crowning his career with a unique post-Soviet Union water utilities and public participation program funded by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) beginning in 1995. The thrust of the work was to help cities in the former communist state modernize water and wastewater infrastructure and to educate the public on the importance of participating in local decision making. (View Unlimited Article)

With four technical books to his credit, Glen Daigger, chief technology officer for CH2M HILL’s Water Business Group and well known in academic and professional circles as one of his books, “Biological Wastewater Treatment Principles and Practice,” has been translated into Chinese. According to Bruce Johnson, a CH2M HILL global technology leader, this work is the “bible of biological wastewater treatment.” The Association of Environmental Engineers and Science Professors stated in a review of the publication, “this book will be of value to our students long after they graduate, and the book will assume an honored space in their professional bookshelves.”
(View Unlimited Article)

It has taken hundreds of talented, forward-thinking and dedicated people to shape CH2M HILL’s IDC into the uniquely dynamic and nimble company it has been. One of these creative thinkers, Ken Durant, who had led IDC since its inception in 1985, recently stepped down as president. Long-time colleagues described Ken as hard-shelled with a soft underside. A businessmen’s businessman. The problem for the struggling, 34-person initial staff was that CH2M HILL was structured to serve public works clients. To meet the demands of public works clients, the firm had a higher overhead rates and pricing structure, which was a hard sell to potential industrial clients. Breakthroughs were achieved that allowed this separate corporation, with its own board of directors and separate accounting/banking system, to become a worldwide player, particularly in the semiconductor industry. (View Unlimited Article)

Awards – 2003
Glen Daigger has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), an honor among the highest professional distinctions that can be accorded an engineer. Daigger received this recognition for his important contributions in combining the theory and practice of wastewater-nutrient control and for improving the practice of environmental engineering worldwide. He was the second CH2M HILL employee to be elected to NAE; the first was Chairman Emeritus Jim Poirot. In recognition of the award, Dr. Daigger, a 23-year veteran of CH2M HILL, was quick to indicate that the award really represents the efforts of his colleagues at CH2M HILL. (View Unlimited Article)

Jack Paczkowski, representing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, recently presented U.S. flag that flew over the World Trade Center restoration site to CH2M HILL in appreciation of the firm’s support of this long-standing client in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. In addition, the firm contributed $40,000 to a memorial fund established for the families of 74 Port Authority employees who lost their lives. (View Unlimited Article)

The American Academy of Environmental Engineers, the largest professional association of its type, awarded CH2M HILL two Grand Awards. Both projects are Oregon based. The firm’s site master plan for the Tri-City Water Pollution Control Plant in Clackamas County won in the Planning category. The McMinnville Riverbend Landfill Drip Irrigation Leachate Reuse System won in the Small Projects category. (View Unlimited Article)

Acquisitions – 2003
With the recent acquisition of Lockwood Greene, the CH2M HILL Industrial Business Sector firmly established itself as a pre-eminent industrial leader among full-service engineering, procurement, and construction management companies. Combined, the applied resources of CH2M HILL, IDC, and Lockwood Greene formed an elite class of worldwide project-delivery providers for private industry that only a handful of companies can match. Lockwood Greene, founded more than 172 years ago, is the oldest, continuously operating professional services firm in the United States. Based on the Engineering News-Record 2003 design rankings, the combined firm ranked 1st in three categories: manufacturing, food processing, and semiconductor categories, 4th in two: industrial processes and pharmaceutical plants, and 9th in power. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure – Design-Build – 2003
For 54,000 residents, North Bay, Ontario, Canada will soon be safer than ever. CH2M HILL Canada won the $32-million design-build contract because of its crystal-clear comprehension of Ontario regulatory requirements, its cutting-edge experience with membrane and urban water disinfection, and its track record helping Canadian cities minimize water treatment energy consumption while maximizing limited site resources. Construction is expected to be completed by 2005. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources – 2003
A major milestone 5 years in the making was reached on the Singapore Deep Tunnel Sewerage System and the Changi Water Reclamation projects. A 20-foot-diameter tunnel, ultimately 29.8 miles long, was connected to the 200-foot-deep influent coarse screen structure at the Changi Water Reclamation Plant. The physical link of the two massive projects was a significant accomplishment for the $7-billion program. (View Unlimited Article)

Sitting on the coast of the China Sea, Hong Kong and its 7 million residents have an unlimited supply of seawater and a limited freshwater supply. The Water Supplies Department of the Hong Kong government and CH2M HILL-IDC of Hong Kong recently signed 32-month contract to prepare preliminary design, drawings, cost estimate, documentation, tender evaluation, and supervision to install two pilot plants capable of producing 52,840 gallons per day of treated water using reverse osmosis technology, said Alex Au, managing director, CH2M HILL-IDC, Ltd.
(View Unlimited Article)

“West Bank – Gaza – Improving infrastructure, Securing Operations.” CH2M HILL has been partnered with the USAID to support through infrastructure projects one of America’s top foreign-policy initiatives, the Middle East Peace Process. Water-a salient point in Israeli-Palestinian relations-was the focus of ongoing projects and represents a large share of the CH2M HILL-led work there.
(View Unlimited Article) Written in 2003, the article recounts that “CH2M HILL and its subcontractor’s construction management staffs have worked under difficult, trying conditions, performing admirably and completing the work when many said we couldn’t or shouldn’t. The security requirements have made us act ever more as a team, looking out for one another.” – Larry Belken, Construction Manager.

On a much more positive note, CH2M HILL employees in Alexandria, Egypt saw their project ratings reach 100 percent in USAID’s final rating. (View Unlimited Article) [Editor’s Note: A must-read, a positive perspective.] The team led by David Osgood, Parkaj Patel, and Nejib Caouch deserves special recognition according to Bob Lytle, senior Water Business Group manager and Teny Mittal, who has been involved in USAID work in Egypt for more than 20 years.

With more than a million people, San Antonio was the ninth largest city in the U.S. It also was one of the few remaining metropolitan areas sustained totally by groundwater resources, the Edwards Aquifer. After 4 years working together on feasibility studies, the San Antonio Water System selected CH2M HILL to serve as program manager for the utility’s $215-million Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Program in 2000. For the past 3 years the firm has been overseeing design and construction of what will be the second largest underground storage system in the United States. Raw water will be pumped from the Edwards Aquifer via 30 miles of 60-inch steel pipe to the new injection system at the Carrizo Aquifer. The effort also includes a new water treatment plant at the Carrizo Aquifer.
(View Unlimited Article)

Serving nearly a million Auckland, New Zealand residents, the newly completed Mangere Wastewater Treatment Plant was dedicated this October. The completion of the upgrade along with the removal of 40 years of accumulated sludge resulted in the restoration of the Manukau Harbor, an inlet where swimming and shell gathering was banned for decades. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Airports, Harbors, and Ports – 2003
Changes have been on the horizon for the aviation industry with the prospect of the largest commercial airliner, the Airbus 380, a double-decked, 555-passenger plan due to enter airline service in 2006. To accommodate this new generation of mega-aircraft, Denver International Airport turned to CH2M HILL to design and provide construction support for the new 16,000-foot-long-runway and taxiway complex, one of the longest commercial runways in the world. Construction was scheduled to be completed in late 2003. “The CH2M HILL team was excited to have this opportunity to design a state-of-the-art runway complex at one of the world’s leading airports,” said Dean Rue, CH2M HILL project manager. (View Unlimited Article)

There was cause for fanfare and celebration in Jacksonville, Florida on October 27th, when the first Celebrity cruise ship sailed from the newly constructed homeport terminal facility on the St. Johns River. For CH2M HILL employees in the Jacksonville and West Palm Beach offices, it was also the celebration of a fast-track, 8-month design and construction schedule. The 63,000-square-foot terminal became a must-see project for many potential clients from other ports. Recently, the Port of Los Angeles visited the terminal to check out what had been called a “model” cruise ship terminal. (View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector (Government, Environmental and Nuclear) – Nuclear – 2003
CH2M HILL’s reputation in accelerated nuclear-waste clean-up leads to Ohio Mound. The firm’s unprecedented success in clean-up for the U.S. Government has taken the firm to this Superfund site closure project. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded the firm a $314-million contact to close and transfer the 306-acre Miamisburg Closure Project in Ohio, also known as the Mound Plant, to an industrial site developer by 2006. The Mound Plant began producing weapon components in 1948 as part of nation’s nuclear weapons program. John Fulton, who has worked at the DOE’s Rocky Flats site in Colorado and the Hanford site in Washington, is CH2M HILL’s site manager. (View Unlimited Article)

August 19, 2003 was a significant milestone for all. On this day of celebration, work, begun by Kaiser-Hill in 1995 at Rocky Flats, Colorado to remove tons of weapons-grade plutonium from the site, was recognized by site employees, members of Colorado’s Congressional delegation, and DOE officials. By June of next year it was anticipated that Building 771, once know as the most dangerous building in America, would be reduced to rubble. Then in 3 more years the site would become a national wildlife refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (View Unlimited Article)

Retrieving, treating, and disposing of 53 million gallons (MG) of radioactive and hazardous waste stored in 177 underground tanks has been a task measured by many milestones. The CH2M HILL Hanford team celebrated several key milestones in recent months. Staff started pumping operations 5 months ahead of schedule from the last 29 single walled tanks into safer double-walled tanks. Demonstration tests were underway to confirm the techniques to be used to remove the sludge (consistency of dry river mud) and salt cake (consistency of rock hard wet beach sand) from the tanks once the liquid has been removed. Using technology adapted from the petroleum and mining industries, demonstrations were also underway to test a remote-controlled cleanup crawler to suck up wastes and spray them toward a central vacuum pump with up to 60 of the 170 Hanford tanks. Crews recently removed a 60-foot waste transfer pump from a double-walled tank to make room for a stronger pump to feed waste to the glassification plant. Final treatment of 53 MG of waste by 2028 is key to completing the cleanup at Hanford. To meet this milestone other technologies will be needed to supplement the glassification plant. Pilot technologies being looked at included a method of turning waste into glass in large disposal containers suitable for land disposal, and steam reforming, following removal of most radioactivity, to immobilize the waste in grout-forming additives suitable for land disposal. (View Unlimited Article)

Removal of 98 percent of pumpable liquids from the single-wall, underground storage tanks is achieved. Next on the Hanford Group’s check-list was the closure of these single-wall tanks and the construction of an integrated disposal facility (IDF). It will contain approximately 1.17 million cubic yards-equivalent to a container the size of a football field and half the height of the Eiffel Tower-of low-level waste and mixed low-level waste. Another contractor is working on the treatment process. “They’re working on a waste treatment and immobilization plant, which will encapsulate high- and low-level vitrified glass logs that will then be disposed of at the IDF. The glass will minimize the waste released into the environment,” said David Comstack, project engineer for the CH2M HILL Hanford Group.
(View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector (Governmental, Environmental, and Nuclear) – Environmental – 2003
The City of Miamisburg, Ohio, looking to expand its municipal well field, turned to its hydrogeologic consultant of 15 years, CH2M HILL, to evaluate the impacts on its existing wells and a plume of tetrachloroethene, a probable carcinogen, in the groundwater. The model developed by CH2M HILL, used with up to 10 different pumping scenarios, including drought, normal and wet season, and variable locations of the new well field, allowed the City and environmental agencies to make the best decision. (View Unlimited Article)

CH2M HILL recently signed first of a “new generation” of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund contracts for Region 10. Under the new 10-year, $109-million contract, CH2M HILL will provide study, design, technical support, and construction management services. Superfund sites included will be in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. “A visionary group of people in the firm took a leap of faith when they competed for and won the first EPA Superfund contracts in the early 1980s,” said Mike Tilchin, client service manager for the EPA. (View Unlimited Article)

Industrial Business Sector – CH2M HILL General – 2003
Universal Studios has awarded CH2M HILL its third global master services agreement. Through on-call services the firm will help Universal maintain a clean and safe environment at Universal theme parks, movie production studios, movie locations, “Wet ‘n Wild” theme parks, and CD manufacturing facilities worldwide. Potential locations include California, Florida, Spain, China, and Japan.
(View Unlimited Article)

2004

CH2M HILL – 2004
“A History of Technical Innovation; A Future in Technology Commercialization – Giving Clients What They Want.” As an outgrowth of CH2M HILL’s intellectual property initiative, technology commercialization is a key means for growing the firm and improving client satisfaction. It encompasses the innovation, legal projection, and commercialization of in-house technology by:

Driving global expansion
Leveraging cross-business group synergies
Solving security challenges with integrated information solutions
Diversifying revenues in the semiconductor market
Offering simple solutions that pay big dividends in nuclear D&D
Advancing design tools that deliver high value, margins (View Unlimited Article)

The visualization team opens eyes with their 3D approach to client needs. Using computer-enhanced or computer-generated video production, simulators, animations, and illustrations, the Viz team from several offices helps present ideas clearly and effectively to prospective clients and stakeholders. (View Unlimited Article)

Safety – 2004
Safety counts in these great 2003 statistics (reported in 2004):

There were 23 percent fewer total injuries in 2003 compared to the previous year.
There was a 30 percent reduction in injuries requiring days away from work, restrictive duty, or medical treatment beyond first aid.,
Injuries requiring days away from work, restrictive duty, or medical treatment beyond first aid was at an all-time low and 41 percent below the industry average.
The No. 1 cause of injuries overall was falling, such as caused by slippery surfaces, uneven surfaces, stairs, and obstacles.

People – 2004
Mission accomplished as project manager Jason Glasgow is awarded NASA’s Space Flight Awareness Honoree Award for his work at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “The entire CH2M HILL team has gone over and beyond the call of duty since we began working with NASA,” Jason said. “This is a team award as far as I am concerned.” (View Unlimited Article)

CH2M HILL’s people continue to excel in their after-hour community support and in turn the support offered by the community. In Anchorage, Alaska, employees band together with one of the office’s most important clients and local construction contractors to refurbish the Loussac Library Ice Fountain, so that today, the outdoor fountain is again an eye-catching landmark and a tribute to community volunteerism. (View Unlimited Article)

CH2M HILL forges a partnership with Engineers Without Borders-USA. Helping developing communities build sustainable infrastructure while training college students to be socially responsible and culturally aware, Engineers Without Borders-USA is a non-profit organization whose time has come. CH2M HILL Vice Chairman Bud Ahearn says, “These are the young professionals whom we want working for us in the future – individuals who are aware of global concerns and cultural differences and who understand the sustainable technologies needed to build the infrastructure of a developing world.”

Awards – 2004
OMI’s partnership with Augusta, Georgia, is honored with the Outstanding Achievement in Public-Private Partnership Award at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ winter meeting held in Washington, D.C. OMI began its partnership with Augusta in 1999 to manage its wastewater facilities. The awards are given to celebrate partnerships that share a common synergy that has changed the way city services are delivered. (View Unlimited Article)

Acquisitions – 2004
The acquisition of Lockwood Greene is introduced in 2003 of this decade. This year, we summarize172 years of Lockwood Greene’s history as the oldest continuously operating professional services firm in the United States:

- 1832 – Company is started by David Whitman, known as the Mill Doctor because he provides consulting engineering services to textile mills throughout New England.
- 1850 – Whitman is called in to help design the massive Pepperell Manufacturing Company that is powered by water and houses 15,000 spindles and 456 looms.
- 1858 – When Whitman dies, Amos Lockwood takes over operation of the company using Whitman’s staff.
- 1871 – Lockwood forms A.D. Lockwood and Co. The firm is involved in eight major mill projects that help establish Lockwood and Co. as a leader in the field by 1880.
- 1882 – Amos Lockwood chooses Stephen Greene, a young draftsman in the company, to be his partner. They form Lockwood, Greene, and Co.
- 1884 – Lockwood dies suddenly, leaving Greene in charge. Greene leads the company into other industries outside of textile mills

- 1893 – Under Greene’s direction, the company continues to grow. Greene designs Columbia Mills as the world’s first totally electric textile mill freeing future mills from needing to locate near a water source.
- 1898 – Lockwood, Greene, and Co. designs many textile schools including Atlanta’s Georgia Institute of Technology.
- 1901 – Greene’s oldest son, Edwin, takes over the business and expands the company into mill management and ownership. The company profits well after WWI until a textile depression hits New England

1920 – The employees purchase the engineering division, which continues on as Lockwood Greene Engineer, Inc. The company expands into newspaper and publishing plants, tobacco and food processing facilities, and electric equipment plants. A large volume of business comes from architectural projects such as schools, churches, and hospitals.
1929 – The largest architectural project in the company’s history is the Atlantic City Auditorium in New Jersey. At the time, the auditorium is the world’s tallest column-free room, with a 137-foot-high barrel-vault ceiling.
1940 – Lockwood Greene sees increased business due in part to defense contracts awarded during WWII. In one project, Camp Shelby, Mississippi, the company has 233 employees on the job to support 17,000 construction workers.
1970 – Lockwood Greene experiences geographic growth with offices in several states and an office in Athens, Greece.
1973 – The company moves its global headquarters from New York to its current home in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Over the next two decades, the company expands from 5 offices to 20 offices around the world, more than doubling its work forces and its revenues from $60 million to $600 million.
2003 – Lockwood Greene is welcomed as part of the CH2M HILL enterprise. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources, and Operations and Maintenance – 2004
Seattle, a city known for its great coffee, is now known for its great drinking water. CH2M HILL’s design-build-operate (DBO) team, after completing the design and construction, began operation of the Cedar Water Treatment Facility this summer. The facility, which supplies 70 percent of the drinking water for the greater Seattle area, uses ozone and ultraviolet light to disinfect and treat up to 180 million gallons per day. Design work began in April 2001 and by April 2004, this DBO facility began supplying water with an estimated savings of $50 million over traditional delivery methods. In June, CH2M HILL’s Cedar Water Treatment Facility construction project receives the top safety “Star” award from the U.S. Occupational and Safety Administration, making it the first project in the State of Washington and one of just 19 construction projects nationwide to receive OSHA’s highest award. LEED – ing edge green building technologies were incorporated into the exterior and interior of the operations building, along with natural heating and cooling strategies. (View Unlimited Article)

A new water-delivery system is unveiled in Uzbekistan. North of Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan, a Soviet Union-era pump and conveyance is replaced thanks to CH2M HILL’s involvement in this USAID project. The firm, as a subcontractor to PA Consulting, managed the 2-year refurbishing of the 110-million-gallons-per-day pump station and distribution system. CH2M HILL’s team installed two new pumps, repaired the system’s six other pumps, and installed a new conveyance system. The new computerized and automated pumping system (new to the Uzbekistan municipal sector) resulted in power saving per pump from 450 kilowatts to 80 to 120 kilowatts. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Highways, Overpasses, and Bridges – 2004
CH2M HILL paves the way to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. A tortuous 65 miles of two-lane mountain highway currently carrying 12,000 to 16,000 cars each day from Vancouver to the Whistler Ski Resort was flanked on one side by steep mountain cliffs and on the other by a precipitous drop to the sea. The $437.4-million project, the first major public/private partnership in western Canada, faces an aggressive timeframe to meet the Olympics deadline. (View Unlimited Article)

The Oregon Department of Transportation selects CH2M HILL to provide design-build delivery of improvements along a 14-mile stretch of Interstate 5 between Sutherlin and Roseburg. This $36.6-million contract is the largest design-build single transportation project awarded to the firm to date as a prime contractor. The scope of work involves replacing nine interstate highway bridges and repairing one other bridge by November 2006. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Airports, Harbors, and Ports – 2004
CH2M HILL Constructors, Inc. converts an abandoned old Army warehouse and wharf into a classy cruise ship terminal in just 4 months. The opening of the Cape Liberty Cruise Port marks the first time in 40 years that a cruise line has operated out of New Jersey. Located 7 miles from New York City, the cruise terminal is an 80,000-square-foot facility composed of 40,000 square feet of passenger embarkation area, 35,000 square feet for baggage screening and handling, and 5,000 square feet for port, customs, and border protection personnel. Late December 2003, notice to proceed was given. On May 4, 2004, the Empress of the Sea, a 2,020-passenger ship, sailed out on the first revenue cruise. One week later, the new terminal welcomed Royal Caribbean’s 3,114-passenger Voyager of the Seas. (View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector – Government Facilities, and Military Operations – 2004
In 2002, CH2M HILL acquired DeMil International and the rights to the Donovan Blast Chamber. (View Unlimited Article) Subsequently in 2003, the blast chamber was modified to handle chemical weapons destruction. (View Unlimited Article) During the past 2 years, employees have been helping the Belgium Ministry of Defense destroy hundreds of chemical weapons — unearthed at freshly excavated construction sites and in farmers’ fields — that date back to World War I. Corroded artillery shells loaded with arsenic, mustard gas, chloropicrin, and other chemicals are frequently found at former battle sites. CH2M HILL’s DeMil International has destroyed more than 1,000 asphyxiant and blister agent munitions to date. DeMil’s mobile detonation chamber, called the controlled detonation chamber (CDC), explodes one shell at a time. Each shell is individually wrapped in plastic explosives to ensure that it is completely destroyed. DeMil has now developed a new CDC system for destroying chemical munitions in the United States. Aketon Technologies, another CH2M HILL company, has developed low-cost and efficient emissions abatement equipment for this CDC system.
(View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector – Nuclear – 2004
Kaiser-Hill is rolling closer to a Rocky Flats closure in December 2006. Overall the project is more than 80 percent complete, ahead of schedule, and under budget. One of the most noteworthy achievements in 2003 was the final stabilization, packing, and offsite shipment of the last of the weapons-usable special nuclear materials, marking the end of 50 years of nuclear operations. (View Unlimited Article)

Hanford is back on track to maintain the safety of its workers and to meet its schedule. Respirators are now required for employees anywhere within the tank-farm boundaries. The safety of the tank-farm workers is a challenge and a primary concern – more important than any schedule or deadline. By August 2003, the Company had moved 98 percent of the pumpable liquid waste from aging single-shell tanks to newer, safer double-shelled tanks. CH2M HILL is preparing to feed waste to a vitrification plant now under construction, where the waste will be turned into glass logs for safe disposal. Improvements in the conduct of work have led CH2M HILL to reduce costs of the project from $285 million to $240 million with 90 percent of the work completed. Early project completion is forecast for as early as the first quarter of 2005. (View Unlimited Article)

2005

CH2M HILL – 2005
The technical and staff resources of CH2M HILL have always responded to emergencies throughout the world, often with great volunteerism. This year the magnitude of hurricanes Katrina and Rita seemed unprecedented along the Gulf Coast. The needs to mobilize employees and resources at a very rapid pace to aid relief and recovery efforts come from many different sources. Included in the sources were the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Army Corps of Engineers, the Air Force, the EPA, state agencies, and private clients. The needs support range from providing temporary housing to assessing damage at Superfund sites in Louisiana and Texas. Housing locations include state parks, mobile home and RV parks, and cruise ships. As of September 28, nearly 1,300 furnished travel trailers are ready for occupancy in Alabama. One hundred and twenty-two quality assurance inspectors are provided for debris removal and temporary roofing construction in Louisiana. Temporary classroom and municipal space are provided at 35 locations in Mississippi. Also in Mississippi, information technology and geographic information systems are supported. (View Unlimited Article)

Safety – 2005
The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation presents CH2M HILL with two significant awards for the firm’s 2004 safety milestones at the 306-acre Miamisburg Mound nuclear clean-up site. CH2M HILL worked more than 900,000 hours since the last Days Away Restricted Time (DART) case. The 2005 performance through May represents an improvement in Total Recordable Case and DART rates of 71 percent and 100 percent, respectively since site work began in 2003. (View Unlimited Article)

People – 2005
Tsunami recovery: CH2M HILL and employees respond to international crisis. Following the December 26, 2004 tsunami, CH2M HILL mobilizes people, channels personal contributions, applies personal expertise to aid in relief and sustained recovery, and works with General Electric to set up a mobile water treatment plant in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The firm’s leadership extends their deepest thanks to all who are involved in CH2M HILL’s tsunami recovery efforts. Our staff’s devotion, personal commitment, and tireless efforts to this unprecedented challenge add a new chapter to CH2M HILL’s longstanding legacy of putting technology to work to build a better world. (View Unlimited Article)

Awards – 2005
2010 Sea-to-sky highway takes home the gold: As featured in 2004, the Sea-to-sky Highway improvement program now receives the National Gold Award from the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships. CH2M HILL was the program manager for the development and implementation of the first public-private partnership transportation project in British Columbia. The project moves people between the Olympic venues in Vancouver and the ski slopes of the magnificent adjacent Whistler and Black-Comb resorts. (View Unlimited Article)

Silverhawk power plant swoops in for awards: Lockwood Greene’s work on the Silverhawk Power Plant in southwest Nevada receives awards from the client, Pinnacle West Energy, and Power Engineering magazine. Wrapped up in just 21 months, construction of the $400-million project is completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Over 1.1 million hours are performed without an OSHA days-away incident. GenWest, a PWE-owned limited liability corporation, owns 75 percent of the plant and the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) the remaining 25 percent. The state-of-the-art “dry-cool” system uses one-tenth the water used by water-cooled power plants.
(View Unlimited Article)

Acquisitions – 2005
CH2M HILL welcomes 75 employees from the BBS Corporation into the CH2M HILL enterprise in October. BBS is an Ohio-based engineering firm specializing in planning, design, and construction administration of water and wastewater treatment, distribution, and collection systems. Since 1937, BBS has established a reputation of providing high-quality systems for its clients. The acquisition increases the firm’s conveyance and wet-weather treatment capacity in the region and better positions CH2M HILL in Ohio’s emerging design-build market. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources – 2005
CH2M HILL goes for green with the new Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The firm is the prime consultant and has overall responsibility for the project management and process design of the facility. The facility will have an initial capacity of 26 million gallons per day (mgd) when placed into operation in 2007 (ultimate capacity, 185 mgd). The state-of-the-art treatment processes include biological nutrient removal (BNR), effluent filtration employing fabric filter technology, and ultraviolet light disinfection. The Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) Green Building Rating system is being used to guide the design of architectural and landscape components at the site. As well, the LEED approach incorporates green building concepts such as recycled building materials and energy-saving heating and cooling systems. A unique aspect of the treatment plant is that it will incorporate a university research facility, visitor interpretive center, and public education areas focusing on water and wastewater technology. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Highways, Overpasses and Bridges – 2005
The Transportation Business Group wraps up design of the $145-million three-phase overhaul of the I-70/75 interchange in Dayton, Ohio for District 7 of the Ohio Department of Transportation. The preceding modernization study was the firm’s first-ever transportation project in Ohio. After the study was completed in 1998, CH2M HILL was awarded a sole-source design contract for Phase 1, the Bench/Wyse interchange, which opened to the public on December 9, 2004. Phases 2 and 3 were subsequently awarded to CH2M HILL. Phase 2 includes reconstruction of four of eight ramps and a major portion of the I-70 mainline. This phase is expected to be opened for traffic in the fall of this year. Phase 3 completes the project and includes four highway ramps, two interstate approaches to the interchange, and eight bridges, and is expected to be completed in fall 2008. (View Unlimited Article)

CH2M HILL, in partnership with HNTB, a U.S. transportation infrastructure firm, is selected to plan and design the reconstruction and extension of Canal Street in the highly visible Menomonee Valley area of Milwaukee. The project is not just about improving one of the City’s transportation corridors. The roadway alignment work led to the need for environmental services. CH2M HILL’s Environmental Services and Transportation Business Groups saw the opportunity for a sole-source environmental contract to perform remediation and redevelopment of the adjacent Shops Site – a 140-acre, 150-year-old former railroad locomotive construction and maintenance facility owned by the City. Based upon the firm’s full-service offerings, the partnership was selected and remediation began in 2003.
(View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Airport, Harbors, and Ports – 2005
Ports and Maritime crew sales into the Port of Tacoma. CH2M HILL’s Ports and Maritime Group lands three new projects with the Port of Tacoma in Washington – one of the fastest growing West Coast ports. Booming trade with China and congestion at Southern California ports are fueling growth at the Port of Tacoma, located on Puget Sound about 20 miles south of Seattle. CH2M HILL will provide planning services for five marine terminals, including the Washington United Terminal; the APM Terminal; and Terminals 3, 4, and 7. The Washington and United terminal projects include container terminal and intermodal rail planning services to increase container storage density. The work also includes planning for wharf expansion, upland expansion, roadway and rail improvements, and related property development in the central tidal flats area. (View Unlimited Article)

New concessions will benefit travelers at Sea-Tac International Airport located between Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. The airport is undergoing major upgrades, and CH2M HILL is assisting the Port of Seattle with a variety of airport improvements such as the new central terminal concessions area, and the Pacific Marketplace, which had its grand opening in June. Twelve CH2M HILL employees are integrated with Port of Seattle staff, and assist with the program in roles ranging from project management to administrative support. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Operations and Maintenance – 2005
A CH2M HILL-OMI team is hired to run a new community of 90,000 called Sandy Springs, located north of and adjacent to Atlanta, Georgia. After a 35-year struggle to become a city, 94 percent of the community voters in June approve a referendum in favor of cityhood. At its September 14th meeting, the Governor’s Commission for the City of Sandy Springs unanimously recommends CH2M HILL and OMI to provide a majority of its municipal services. On December 1, 2004, a newly elected city council for Georgia’s seventh largest city sign a $32-million annual contract with the firm to provide all city services except police, fire, and 911 (emergency call) services. Sandy Springs represents a landmark, first-of-a-kind partnership in choosing to contract most of its services through the private sector. Two distinctive areas of service are to be provided. First, CH2M HILL-OMI will handle administrative duties such as customer service, human resources, accounting, and information technology. Second, the firm will provide hands-on public services such a public works, transportation, parks and recreation, and planning and zoning. The CH2M HILL team is made up of OMI and our Water, Transportation, and Communication & Information Solutions business groups, as well as five major subcontractors and a number of other specialized subcontractors.
(View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector – Nuclear – 2005
An international partnership produces innovative technology for nuclear cleanup in Russia. As part of a four-member international partnership, CH2M HILL is testing new technology to stabilize high-level radioactive nuclear waste and other materials at the Mayak nuclear complex, a radioactive waste-management plant in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia’s Southern Ural Mountains. Radioactive waste is managed at Mayak using reservoirs, storage tanks, waste burial sites, and a vitrification plant. By the late 1990s, the site had accumulated more than 650,000 cubic yards of solid radioactive waste and 500,000 cubic yards of liquid radioactive waste. As a result of accidents and discharge of liquid waste over the years, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a mandate to clean up the site and mitigate risks to public health and the environment. Key to the success of the project is a four-party agreement between the Vernadsky Institute (Russian Academy of Sciences), Mayak Chemical Combine, Argonne National Laboratory (Department of Energy), and CH2M HILL. Project sensitivity is heightened by the fact that the proposed pilot plant will be a joint U.S, /Russian design-build-operate project inside a Russian production site. The new stabilization technology, involving an ambient temperature process for converting the waste to a ceramic mineral in a simple cement mixer, is designed to achieve acceptance standards for high-level waste disposal as well as to create a material that is no longer attractive to terrorists seeking materials for weapons. (View Unlimited Article)

Kaiser-Hill announces physical completion of the Rocky Flats cleanup on October 13, 2005, a U.S. Department of Energy facility that supports the nation’s nuclear weapons program for nearly 40 years! Rocky Flats, located near Denver, Colorado, produced plutonium and enriched uranium “triggers” for nuclear weapons from 1952 until 1989. Every nuclear weapon in the current U.S. arsenal contains triggers produced at Rocky Flats. Kaiser-Hill clean-up began in 1995. The announcement represents the culmination of a 10-year effort to complete the largest, most complex environmental cleanup project in U.S. history and converts an environmental liability into a community asset. Rocky Flats is also the first large-scale nuclear weapons facility to be decommissioned and closed anywhere in the world. Final acceptance of the work is the next step in the transition of the site to the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge.
(View Unlimited Article)

Idaho nuclear cleanup project – first phase of the high-risk demolition is completed. Workers reach an early milestone at the $2.9-billion, 7-year Idaho Cleanup Project when they demolish building CPP-627, the first high-risk structure to be razed at the Idaho National Laboratory site. Built in the mid-1950s, the building was an integral part of the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center’s fuel processing mission. They facility was an analytical laboratory with remotely operated hot cells and equipment for analyzing highly radioactive fuel samples. Decommissioning of CPP-627 presented unique radiological and structural challenges. Several highly contaminated hot cells had to be removed and disposed of, and the facility’s concrete structure had to be separated from two adjoining facilities. Crews worked 51,000 hours on the demolition since May with a perfect safety record. Over 1,600 cubic yards of debris were removed from the site and disposed in an approved landfill. (View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector – Environmental – 2005
For more than 100 years, one of the most hazardous and complex waste sites in the nation was also in danger of becoming one of the most inhospitable places for plants and animal life in the U.S. Now, however, trees, shrubs, and grasses are flourishing and wildlife has returned to the once desolate Bunker Hill Superfund Site in northern Idaho’s Silver Valley. Starting in 1997, CH2M HILL manages the Bunker Hill Hillsides Revegetation Project, which comprises nearly 1,100 acres of barren, steep, acidic and rocky slopes; slopes that exceed 1,000 feet in length; and limited road access. Bunker Hill was once home to extensive lead and zinc mining operations that began in the late 1880s. Logging for mine timbers, wildfires, and smelting activities results in the loss of the hillside’s topsoil and contamination of the valley with heavy metals, threatening public health and creating a desolate, barren landscape. Working closely with the Army Corps of Engineers, the team determines that hundreds of tons of restoration mixtures are needed for the project. Sikorsky S-64 air crane helicopters apply these mixtures – the first time this technology is ever attempted at this scale. (View Unlimited Article)

Historically, a 1,200-acre stretch of coastline in Huntington Beach, just south of Los Angeles, California, comprises acres of vibrant saltwater and freshwater marshes, providing habitat for a wide range of plants and animals – including brown pelicans, snowy plovers and other waterfowl. The disappearance of much of the Bolsa Chica wetlands dates back to 1899, when a gun club diked and drained the area. Beginning in the 1940s, oil companies discover reserves of crude oil, and soon oil wells dot the landscape. By the 1970s, the site includes 430 active or abandoned wells and a vast network of pipelines and related equipment. In addition to contamination from these industrial sources, storm drainage from neighboring areas flows into the wetlands, further contributing to the area’s ecological problems. From the 1970s to the mid-1990s, the remaining wetlands come under increased pressure from commercial and residential developers. But in 1997, the State of California purchases most of the remaining wetlands. The CH2M HILL team is tasked with conducting a confirmatory sampling program and preparing an ecological risk assessment in support of the restoration effort. CH2M HILL’s work at the site runs from late 1997 to April 2005. Construction is underway and is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2006. In April, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service presents the team with certificates of appreciation honoring CH2M HILL’s contribution to this important restoration project. (View Unlimited Article)

Industrial Business Sector – Electronics and Advanced Technology – 2005
CH2M HILL is assisting Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, India’s leading telecommunications provider and the country’s public-sector firm, through contacts with Nokia and Nortel to construct mobile facilities and install equipment in several states, including Uttar, Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Orissa, and Assam. The mobilization of this team is the most rapid build-up for the CH2M HILL Communications & Information Solutions Group in Asia, and possibly the most rapid build-up in CH2M HILL history. The CH2M HILL India team successfully mobilizes from an initial staff of 24 to more than 190 in less than 2 months! Bharat Sanchar Nigam provides local-exchange access and domestic long-distance services through a network of more than 45 million access lines covering most of India. (View Unlimited Article)

2006

CH2M HILL – 2006
In mid-June, CH2M HILL emphasizes its commitments to project delivery in the Middle East and Asia through a series of significant events, including the grand opening of the Shanghai office, a regional leadership conference, and the first board-of-directors’ meeting outside North America. The Middle East, Southeast Asia, India, Singapore, and China are identified in the firm’s 2006 international strategic plan as the fastest growing and largest markets for the CH2M HILL enterprise. In three groups, board members meet with employees and clients at project sites in Dubai, Hong Kong, and Shanghai before meeting collectively in Singapore. Approximately 80 employees from Northern and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, India, and Australia attend the first regional 2-day leadership conference. (View Unlimited Article)

It could be argued that Oregon State University’s Apperson Hall is the birthplace of CH2M HILL. It is where co-founders Holley Cornell, Jim Howland, and Burke Hayes often crossed paths with the flamboyant, eraser-throwing professor Fred Merryfield, the “M” in CH2M. Apperson is where Howland, who was sitting in a nearby café and was told he was late for a test, raced up the stairs and into the classroom after running five blocks – and passed the test. It’s where Hayes grades his fellow students papers – and his own. The 100-year-old building is set for renovation, and the CH2M HILL Foundation matches employee contributions up to a total of $500,000.
(View Unlimited Article)

Safety – 2006
CH2M HILL emphasizes its strong commitment to safety by signing the World Safety Declaration on June 28, 2006. The company joins other industry leaders including DuPont, General Electric, and CEMEX. “CH2M HILL is committed to being a global leader in safety and is proud to join with other industry leaders to improve health and safety worldwide,” said Chief Executive Ralph Peterson.
(View Unlimited Article)

A safety milestone is reached at the Resolution Copper Mining construction site when small-business partner to CH2M HILL and its Arizona client, Resolution Copper Mining, Jonovich Companies, logs 50,000 safe work hours at a $16-million design-build water treatment site. Upon completion, the project will treat approximately 1 billion gallons of water to remove metals resulting from draining and reopening the copper mine located 60 miles east of Phoenix in the historic Pioneer Mining District. (View Unlimited Article)

People – 2006
Earlier this year, Steve Ferguson and his family got some presidential news. His two daughters, Margaux and Isabella, and their two cousins, Millie and Madeleine, received the regional President’s Environmental Youth Award for their work to protect the Park Branch, a stream southwest of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Madeleine and Isabella recently completed the sixth grade and Millie and Margaux are 2 years older. “These kids are excellent examples of how dedicated individuals can make a difference for the environment,” said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator, Richard E. Greene. (View Unlimited Article)

Awards – 2006
“By demonstrating engineering excellence, best world practice and supreme fitness for purpose, Project Manukau had that something special that the judges were looking for,” said Bas Walker, chief judge for the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards, which were presented in November 2005 in Wellington. Celebrating the country’s top engineering projects, the awards event recognize Project Manukau with the Utilities and Networks Award, as well as the overall Supreme Award for Engineering Excellence. The Supreme Award honors the project deemed to be the best in all award categories, including building and construction, utilities, roads, information and communication, mechanical and electrical, and sustainability. The 5-year-long project significantly upgrades the existing sewerage treatment plant to meet the needs of the three major cities of Auckland, Manukau, and Waitakere. As such, it is one of the largest environmental restoration and wastewater treatment plant construction projects in the Southern Hemisphere. Manukau Wastewater Services Ltd, a consortium of CH2M BECA, Fletcher Construction, Bovis Lend Lease Pty, and New Zealand Water Services, provides the design, construction, and startup aspects of the project. (View Unlimited Article)

The Jenkins Brick Company wins EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach project of the year award. It started a few years ago with a $10,000 table top exercise of evaluate landfills for methane supply. The end result is an environmentally sound manufacturing facility – praised by state and national leaders – that has given the client, Jenkins Brick Company, a competitive edge. The new $56-million plant in Moody, Alabama, the first such U.S, facility to be built near a landfill specifically to tap methane gas, will use the gas to fire kilns and initially provide 40 percent of its energy. Within 10 years, as the landfill expands, it will meet 100 percent of the facility’s energy needs. The project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 62,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, the equivalent carbon dioxide synthesized by a 20,000-acre forest. (View Unlimited Article)

The British Columbia Ministry of Transportation recognizes CH2M HILL Canada with first- and second-place awards for two road improvement projects. The projects, nominated by our clients, are as follows:

The First Place Award is for the Sea-to-Sky Highway Improvements Project to support the 2010 Winter Olympics (See Awards – 2005 and Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Highways, Overpasses, and Bridges – 2004.)
The Second Place Award is in recognition of the $12-million Highway 1 Joint Use Vehicle Inspection Station near Golden, British Columbia, for design and contract preparation. The project was a first-of-its-kind joint initiative between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources – 2006
The CH2M HILL-designed International Water Quality Laboratory in El Paso, Texas, a cutting-edge municipal facility for analyzing water and wastewater, opens in May. The 27,000-square-foot facility is located adjacent to the Haskell R. Street Wastewater Treatment Plant in central El Paso and was funded through existing water and wastewater rates. The CH2M HILL project team provides a broad spectrum of services, from feasibility study to design and support during construction. This $7.6-million lab, combined with the work on the Upper Valley Water Treatment Plant, establishes CH2M HILL in the area (and led to the opening of the firm’s El Paso office in 2002).
(View Unlimited Article)

In 2002, Orange County Sanitation District Board of Director’s in Southern California voluntarily commit to treat wastewater to secondary treatment standards. The District, the third largest wastewater agency in the western United States, serves more than 2 million customers. The commitment results in the development of a $3-billion capital improvement program (CIP). The CIP involves more than 30 design firms and 20 contractors, with 145 projects ranging in size from $50,000 to $250 million. The work is schedule to be completed by 2020. Integrated Project Management Consultants, a CH2M HILL joint venture with Parsons, is the program manager.
(View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Highways, Overpasses, and Bridges – 2006
In January, the Idaho Transportation Board selects Connecting Idaho Partners, a joint venture of the Washington Group International and CH2M HILL, for the $1.2-billion, 6-year Connecting Idaho-GARVEE Bond transportation program. The proposed 250 miles of roadways is to be funded using a Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle (often referred to as a GARVEE bond) that allows states to issue bonds to build highway projects and pay off the bonds using its future federal highway payments. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Airports, Harbors, and Ports – 2006
Construction begins on a major infrastructure project to expand capacity at Washington Dulles International Airport. In the summer of 2000, the authority, which manages both Washington D.C. airports, announced the $3.4-billion Fourth Runway Project to bring Dulles closer to its full potential. To meet an aggressive schedule and better identify potential issues associated with construction, the authority selects a consultant team, including CH2M HILL, to begin conceptual engineering work in parallel to an ongoing environmental impact statement. CH2M HILL provides the following services for the new runway complex:

Technical design management
Airfield traffic and geometric analysis
Airspace analysis (including air-traffic-control-tower line of sight)
Grading/stormwater analysis and design
Environmental support
Airfield electric design
Pavement design support
Navigational aid system analysis and design (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Operations and Maintenance – 2006
The newly established towns of Milton and Johns Creek, Georgia, join their Fulton County neighbor Sandy Springs (refer to Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Operations and Maintenance – 2005) as the only cities in the U.S. designed to have a private company carry out most of their services, CH2M HILL OMI. CH2M HILL expects to employ more than 200 people in services to the cities. Annual revenue from the three cities amount to a cumulative $50 million. (View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector – Nuclear – 2006
The CH2M-WG Idaho (CWI) team mobilizes in the spring of 2005 to tackle clean-up at the Idaho National Laboratory site, established in 1949 as a national reactor testing station. Over the course of 7 years for a cost of $2.3 billion, CWI will dispose, stabilize, and store spent nuclear fuel, treat and dispose of radioactive waste streams, remediate contaminated soil and water, and demolish reactors, spent nuclear fuel storage basins, and labs used for radiological experiments. After a year, the site’s skyline has changed and long-time threats to the environment are diminishing and the CWI team has accomplished the following:

Removed 110,200 pounds of sludge from spent nuclear fuel storage basins
Demolished 44 facilities and structures including the first high-risk building
Transferred 500 units of spent nuclear fuel from wet to dry storage
Retrieved buried waste from a subsurface disposal area
Disposed of all V-tanks from the site (View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector – Environmental – 2006
In Sarmia, Ontario, CH2M HILL helps a global manufacturer, ICI, [take a former pretreatment pond and convert it to a lush wetland and wildlife sanctuary, setting a high standard for decommissioning and restoration of a former industrial site. Since ICI ended its fertilizer production operations, the site has gone through extensive restoration. Following the expansion of the wetland to four times its original size, cattails, trees, shrubs, flowers, and other vegetation were planted. The 13-hectare site (32 acres), complete with public viewing areas, includes several features, all named after indigenous wildlife, such a Moorhen Marsh, and Kestrel, Osprey, and Coyote islands. Nesting boxes and platforms, open water areas, densely vegetated marshes, raptor perches and turtle basking logs were provided to attract wildlife. (View Unlimited Article)

Industrial Business Sector – Focus on Argentina and Brazil – 2006
CH2M HILL in Argentina begins work on a $US 10.4-million engineering-procurement-construction-management project for a large French energy company, Total Austral, with operations in more than 130 countries. South American operations began in 1980 as an engineering and construction company called Altecnica. Since then, after being acquired by Lockwood Greene and CH2M HILL, the Buenos Aires office has grown to include more than 400 employees. They are primarily focused on the industrial sector, with emphasis on power, oil and gas, chemicals, and manufacturing. In addition to the Total Austral client, other Argentina clients include Cargill, Dow, ExxonMobil, and Wal-Mart. The Buenos Aires office exports engineering services to projects well beyond South America – to 15 clients in the U.S.A, to 7 clients in Russia, to 2 clients in Ireland, to 2 clients in Ukraine, and to 1 client each in Singapore and China. Sao Paulo employees have worked for 27 multinational clients in Brazil. (View Unlimited Article)

Industrial Business Sector – Energy – 2006
One of the few combined-cycle power plants to be constructed in the U.S. in 2006 is the new 514-megawatt facility for Sierra Pacific Power Company, the principal utility provider for northern Nevada and the Lake Tahoe area. To bring the new power plant on line by March 2008, Sierra awards the much sought after $200-million engineer-procure-construct contract to CH2M HILL. Combined-cycle systems burn natural gas in a gas turbine coupled to a generator for electricity production. The hot exhaust gases are then used to generate steam for producing additional electricity via a conventional steam turbine generator. The project will also feature an air-cooled condenser to save a considerable amount of water in an area with significant water limitations, as well as selective catalytic reduction technology to produce low emissions. Construction begins in April with an anticipated peak work force of up to 500 workers.
(View Unlimited Article)

2007

CH2M HILL – 2007
For the fourth straight year, Engineering News-Record has ranked CH2M HILL as the No. 1 program management firm in the United States. For infrastructure programs around the globe, CH2M HILL is using its proven project management system and processes to plan, design, construct, and deliver complex projects for the firm’s clients. As examples:

CH2M HILL is providing design, program, and construction management for the $245-million Tennessee Air National Guard relocation and base conversion program, the largest construction program undertaken by the Air National Guard in the past 20 years.
Because of an increase in its capital improvements program and an expectation that its in-house staff would soon be overwhelmed with work, the City of San Antonio Public Works Department decided, for the first time in its history, to use a program management approach to ensure that projects are delivered on time and within budget, without compromising quality. CH2M HILL was selected to deliver the program management approach. (View Unlimited Article)

Safety – 2007
Poland’s first engineer-procure-construct (EPC) project achieves Target Zero. Not a single day was lost, first aid was never needed, and no accidents were recorded throughout the duration of CH2M HILL’s first EPC project in Poland. In total, 42,000 hours were worked in achieving Target Zero. This fine record was accomplished through high standards set by project management, and a rigorous, high-standard safety program for CH2M HILL staff and its subcontractor employees. A local third-party safety consultant carried out comprehensive safety training in Polish and CH2M HILL staff continuously monitored subcontractors to ensure full compliance with the safety program. 3M Poland contracted with CH2M HILL to design and install 3,500 square meters of Class 6 and 7 clean-room space for manufacturing thin-film technology for flat-panel televisions and computers. The quick turnaround project launched in June 2006, construction began in October, and was completed in March of this year. (View Unlimited Article)

Awards – 2007
Sustainable, holistic approach to water management helps PUB Singapore win prestigious water award. An island nation of 4.5 million people, Singapore faces the challenge of developing the infrastructure needed to support a densely populated country with limited resources. The success of PUB’s approach led this agency to be honored with the Stockholm Water Industry Award presented August 15, 2007. This prestigious award is the water industry’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. CH2M HILL is featured prominently in this holistic and sustainable approach with the 60-mile, 24-foot-diameter Deep Tunnel Sewerage System, the 800-million-liter-per-day (200 million-gallons-per-day) Changi Water Reclamation Plant, the NEWater reuse program membrane and ultraviolet treatment, and the ABC’s Water Program to water-sensitive urban design. (View Unlimited Article)

Baldwin Park receives EPA’s Phoenix Award for excellence in environmental redevelopment during the November 2006 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Conference. During the awards presentation, Baldwin Park was also recognized as one of the two top revitalization projects in the United States. Criteria for selection include project magnitude, innovation techniques, solutions to regulatory issues, and community impact. Located in the heart of Orlando, Florida, Baldwin Park is now a mixed-use, 1,000-acre, master-planned community built on the site of a navy training center. Beginning in 1928, the property was used as a civilian airport or military airfield until the Navy’s training center was established in 1968. When the base was closed in 1993, the City of Orlando hired the Orlando Partnering Team with CH2M HILL as a member. (View Unlimited Article) (View Unlimited Background Article)

Acquisitions – 2007
CH2M HILL has completed its acquisition of Anchorage-based VECO Corporation, a global company with a rich history of delivering first-rate client service, primarily in the energy market sector. VECO was ranked by Engineering News-Record as among the Top 25 design firms. Last year, the company reported revenues of approximately $900 million. Established in 1968, VECO has more than 4,000 employees worldwide. The company is a leader in the oil service industry, supporting industry heavyweights such as BP, ConcoPhillips, Shell, ExxonMobil, and Petro-Canada. Last year’s ENR Top 500 Design Firm rankings are 24th overall, 1st in maintenance, 2nd in co-generation, 2nd in pipelines, 6th in petroleum, and 7th in refineries and petrochemical plants. Core capabilities include engineering, project management, procurement, construction, operations, and maintenance services to energy, resources, process industries, and the public sector. Markets include oil refining; upstream oil and gas, pipelines and terminals; power generation and electrical distribution; chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology; mining and metals; and federal services and infrastructure. VECO has major offices in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Anchorage, Prudhoe, Kenai, and Fairbanks, Alaska; Bellingham, Washington; Calgary, Alberta and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Denver, Colorado; and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia. (View Unlimited Article)

As CH2M HILL continues to build its energy business, the firm on October 31 completed acquisition of Trigon EPC, a dynamic Colorado-based company specializing in engineering, procurement and construction management services for pipelines and related facilities. Trigon has approximately 320 employees and 26 years of experience in the oil, natural gas, and energy sectors. Its clients include BP, ConocoPhillips, and Texaco. Headquartered in Lakewood with a major office in Durango, the two locations include approximately 125 employees. The rest of the workforce is at project sites throughout the United States. Ranked in July as the fastest-growing large (more than $11.5 million), privately held company by the Denver Business Journal, Trigon saw its annual revenue soar more than 230 percent to $50.8 million from 2005 to 2006. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Design-Build – 2007
The largest highway construction project in Colorado Springs’ history is successfully winding down. Scheduled to finish by the end of this year, the comprehensive, $150-million Colorado Springs Metro Interstate Expansion (COSMIX) project rebuilt interchanges, improved roadway alignment, improved storm drainage, mitigated roadway noise, and expanded Interstate 25 to six lanes through Colorado Springs. Rockrimmon Constructors, a CH2M HILL-led joint venture with SEMA Construction, provided design-build services to expand 12 miles of highway capacity, reconstructed 16 bridges, widen another four bridges, and reconfigured two major interchanges. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Design-Build-Operate – 2007
In 1980, CH2M HILL’s leaders had an inspirational idea. As the firm was hired by clients to design and build water and wastewater treatment plants, why not offer to bring in people and expertise to run them, too? That idea launched an operations and maintenance business today know as CH2M HILL OMI. Over the years, the company has grown to more than $240 million in revenue and 1,600 people providing a range of services well beyond the original water and wastewater industry. Not only does their expertise provide an advantage to CH2M HILL in the realm of full-service firms, but it also helps ensure 5-, 10-, or even 25-year ongoing partnerships with governments, cities, and companies around the world. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Design-Procure-Build-Operate – 2007
Innovative in-house procurement processes are yielding big savings on the Twin Oaks Water Treatment Plant in San Diego, California, where CH2M HILL is the designer, procurer, and constructor, and then beginning in 2008, the operator for a 20-year period. In recent years, CH2M HILL has made significant inroads in evolving from a traditional consulting services firm to being an established full-service CEPC project-delivery enterprise with the ability to operate the CEPC project: consulting, engineering, procurement, and construction. Adding procurement can, for some clients and projects, provide better value to the client, reduce risks of subcontracting out this service, and can increase profit margins. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources – 2007
For nearly two decades, CH2M HILL has delivered projects throughout the region – from infrastructure risk analysis to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sidney to design-build services for Brisbane’s Luggage Point Wastewater Reclamation Plant. Recent wins at the Southern Seas Desalination Plant in Perth and the Darling Downs Power Station in Queensland are solidifying the firm’s position in Australia across a wide range of markets. Today, CH2M HILL has 150 employees in Australia with offices in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, and Brisbane. However the start-up of CH2M HILL’s presence in Australia was difficult at best. In 1990, Mike Anglea, coming off a successful stint on a major program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, traveled to Sidney to set-up a joint venture to capitalize on an Australian Government 20-year plan for wastewater clean-up that was fouling the coastline, closing beaches, and contaminating aquatic life. Unfortunately, the hoped-for market was slow to materialize and the joint venture was dissolved in 1993. However beginning in 1992, with the arrival of Stan Sturges in Sidney, the environmental business began to develop and CH2M HILL Australia Proprietary Limited was off and running. By 1995, the office had grown to about 25 employees and included a healthy mix of industrial, environmental, and water projects. CH2M HILL’s previous efforts paid off handsomely when CH2M HILL won a major contract for the 2000 Olympics, providing hazardous waste investigations and cleanup planning for the Olympic Village, which was sited on a decommissioned munitions depot and industrial landfill. (View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Highways, Overpasses, and Bridges – 2007
The public involvement program was a huge success during the Marquette Interchange Reconstruction Project. Keeping Milwaukee, Wisconsin, open for business was a key challenge and, as it turned out, one of the biggest successes for the Milwaukee Transportation Partners, a CH2M HILL and HNTB joint venture. Fueling this success was an intensive public involvement program of the $1-billion project involving the reconstruction of a five-level interchange downtown at the junction of I-94, I-43, and I-794. Public praise by Milwaukee residents included: “Just wanted to let everyone involved with this project know that you guys are doing a great job. I have lived in several major cities including Boston and Washington D.C., where projects of this magnitude more or less paralyzed portions of the city. The fact that you have been able to pull off this feat of engineering and logistics with a minimum of inconvenience to the public is nothing short of amazing.” The interchange is the cornerstone of the state’s southeastern freeway system, carrying 300,000 vehicles per day. Marquette was ranked by Roads and Bridges magazine as the nation’s No. 1 road project for 2004. (View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector – Government Facilities and Military Operations – 2007
CH2M HILL will be a key player in completing what has been called “the most important infrastructure project of the 21st century.” The Panama Canal Authority (Autoridad del Canal de Panama or ACP) has selected CH2M HILL to manage the $3.2-billion Panama Canal expansion program. As program manager, CH2M HILL will provide oversight of the extensive work, which involves building two new locks and will also include substantial excavation and dredging. The Panama Canal currently handles 5% of world trade. The expansion will enable the canal to handle much larger ships, as well as increase the number of ships the canal can handle each day. The new sets of locks (40% longer and 60% wider than the original locks) will allow the waterway to double its shipping capacity by 2025. The project schedule calls for the first Post Panamax vessel – a term used to describe ships larger than the maximum dimensions able to fit through the current canal – to transit through the expanded canal on August 15, 2014, the 100th anniversary of the completion of the original canal. (View Unlimited Article)

Employees working on the Hanford River Corridor Closure Contract in Richland, Washington, recently celebrated the demolition of 100 buildings in 2 years. Considering it took the previous contractor 11 years to demolish 40 buildings, this is no small feat. The 333 Building demolition was one of the most significant, completed 12 months ahead of schedule and $9.1 million under budget, with zero accidents or regulatory violations. The 333 Building was built in the early 1960s to fabricate metallic fuel for plutonium production in the N Reactor at the Hanford site. The 57,000-square-foot steel and insulated metal panel structure was a particular challenge because of extensive beryllium and uranium contamination, hazardous materials and the multitude of heavy, bulky equipment it housed.
(View Unlimited Article)

Federal Business Sector – Nuclear – 2007
It has been nearly a year since CH2M HILL and its partnering companies in the National Security Technologies consortium arrived at the Nevada Test Site, a large U.S. Department of Energy reservation north of Las Vegas, Nevada. By all accounts, it’s going well. The management and operations transition was completed, the client awarded the team a 100 percent fee rating for 2006, and the difficult task of designing and scheduling a transuranic waste program was mapped out. CH2M HILL directly oversees environmental management at the site, including the transuranic program. Responsibilities include the conceptualization, research, development, testing, and demonstration initiatives for environmental restoration and monitoring, science and technology development, and waste management. Waste management encompasses the safe, efficient and compliant disposal of low-level and low-level-mixed radioactive waste as well as safe and compliant removal of the highly reactive transuranic waste. (View Unlimited Article)

Industrial Business Sector – Energy – 2007
CH2M HILL is providing engineering and procurement services for infrastructure utilities at an oil-sands project mine and upgrader site in Alberta, Canada. An upgrader is a refinery capable of processing heavy oil into more usable crude. The project is helping extract oil from the province’s rich oil supply, which includes approximately 300 billion barrels of oil and is second only to Saudi Arabia’s supply.
(View Unlimited Article)

CH2M HILL has been tapped to provide services for a 400-mile, $300-million petroleum pipeline (UNEV Pipeline) stretching from Salt Lake City, Utah, to North Las Vegas, Nevada. A groundbreaking project for CH2M HILL – the UNEV pipeline will connect Salt Lake region refineries and additional pipelines sources to growing markets in southern Utah and Las Vegas. The strongly integrated project team has partnered with Trigon EPC, an established leader in the petroleum pipeline design and construction industry. (Refer to Acquisitions – 2007) The CH2M HILL team has been hard at work for more than a year to research feasibility, develop the route, permit the project, and optimize infrastructure and operations for pump stations, two product terminals, and the pipeline itself. The team is responsible for project management, pipeline routing, environmental permitting, right-of-way assessment, hydraulic modeling, surveying, and design.

2008

CH2M HILL – 2008 – Smithsonian Donation
Curators at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History were astounded. Never before had the museum received such a large collection of original material witnessing to the industrial revolution and rise of manufacturing in America.

The Lockwood Greene collection, donated between 1998 and 2008, is the single largest assemblage of engineering and architectural designs, illustrations, and photographs of the American industrial revolution within the Smithsonian’s collection. The donation included ink on linen drawings, blueprints, and original photographs dating back to 1870—more than 36,000 items in total. A further financial donation was made to support the archiving and conservation of these materials.

The documents provide a pictorial account of America during the industrial revolution. The drawings handcrafted on linen parchment represent some of the most prominent textile mills, manufacturing facilities, mechanical processes, and buildings of the nineteenth century. Donated items included architectural and engineering drawings of manufacturing plants for some of the nation’s most recognized companies: Baldwin Piano Company, Palmolive, Piedmont Manufacturing Company, American Cigar Company, and Gillette, among hundreds of others.

Now preserved for posterity, the museum’s Science, Technology, and Culture Department has compiled an index of the Lockwood Greene collection. Researchers and interested members of the public can review the index on the Smithsonian’s website and make an appointment to see the materials in person.
(View Unlimited Article)

Safety – 2008 – Transportation – Ports
Groups are hard at work to improve global commerce by strengthening safety, and security, and reducing environmental impacts at the ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles, California.

The Port of Long Beach handles 45 percent of the nation’s containerized import goods at its 3,200-acre, 10-pier, 80-berth, and 71 post-Panamax gantry cranes. Through the Manufacturing and Life Sciences Business Group, CH2M HILL is providing architectural, engineering, and construction support services for a $21 million, 25,110-square-foot, three-story security command and control center with rooftop heliport. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED’s) facility will house employees from the Port’s Security Division, the Port of Los Angeles Police, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and the port’s underwater dive team for patrol and rescue efforts. The control center will also house an integrated communications and surveillance system tied to the city’s emergency operations center. CH2M HILL’s Enterprise Management Solutions Business Group is providing geographical information systems (GIS) services including onsite data management and analysis, map production, systems upgrade and maintenance, training, and design and implementation of GIS systems to enable sharing of data across the entire organization.

The Port of Los Angeles, with the largest container port in the U.S., occupies 7,500 acres, 43 miles of waterfront, and 27 cargo terminals. From this economic powerhouse, 1.1 million jobs are credited to California with 3.3 jobs nationwide. CH2M HILL was recently awarded three contracts to provide a variety of environmental services continuing a 20-year history with this port:

New air quality contract – Air quality services will include air emission inventory, review of state and federal environmental documents, bay-wide health risk assessment, tracking and interpretation of regulations, measuring emissions from mobile sources, green house gas inventory and reduction strategies, and evaluating and implementing emerging emission reduction technologies.
New environmental site assessment contract – Services will include environmental site assessments, soil and groundwater investigations, remedial investigations and feasibility studies, technical design, remediation, site closure reports, and environmental compliance assessments. During the last 10 years, CH2M HILL has completed 90 site assessment projects under similar contracts.
Renewal of environmental documentation contract – For the sixth consecutive year, CH2M HILL will assist the Port of Los Angles with the China Shipping environmental impact report/environmental impact statement for a complex $100 million container terminal project.

(View Unlimited Article)

People – 2008 – Employees Rally to Support “Water For People”
Each May for the past 6 years, CH2M HILL has participated in the “Water For People Workplace Giving Campaign,” an international fundraising effort to develop safe drinking water resources, improved sanitation facilities, and hygiene education programs for disadvantaged people around the world. This year, employees raised more than $170,000 to help over 6,000 people.

CH2M HILL’s commitment goes well beyond just raising money. Many employees and offices provide support by volunteering time to sponsoring charitable events.
(View Unlimited Article)

People – 2008 – Fortunate Son – Fortunate Father
Zach Doleac, son of CH2M HILL’s Mike Doleac, who serves as Seattle’s construction practice director, was honored at a White House ceremony in April – together with four of his peers – for developing an innovative carbon dioxide reduction program at his Redmond, Washington, high school. Each were presented with the President’s Environmental Youth Award in recognition of the success of their “Cool Schools” program.

Over the past 2-1/2 years, the program has saved the school district more than $500,000.
(View Unlimited Article)

People – 2008 – U.S. Military “Coins” CH2M HILL Construction Manager
The United States military tradition of “getting coined” – the awarding of a specially design coin bearing an organization’s insignia or emblem – is believed to date back to World War I. The coin became a common way to recognize military individuals for their support and contribution to military efforts. Over the years, this practice had been extended to civilian personnel.

CH2M HILL’s Sid Hubbell, construction manager at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, was recently coined by Lt. Col. Michael Saunders, 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer squadron commander, for his work in developing and delivering a program management squadron officer training program.

Hubbell joined four other CH2M HILL employees coined by the U.S. Air Force in Qatar – Brad Herzog, Tom Polen, Patrick Gronli, and Perry Jones.
(View Unlimited Article)

People – 2008 – Awards
Two distinguished honors were awarded to CH2M HILL at the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) annual international conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The firm was named the International Employer of the Year; and Marcy Schwartz, senior vice president of the Transportation Business Group, was named Woman of the Year. WTS, founded in 1977, is an international organization with more than 4,000 members – both women and men – in 42 chapters, representing the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The organization is for advancement of women in the transportation industry.

Another honor was presented to Vanessa Rodriquez of San Juan, Puerto Rico, when she was appointed as secretary of the Puerto Rico Geologist Examination Board. She joined CH2M HILL in 2007 and is a survey technician and scientist for the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority Compliance Program.

Our Bud Ahern, Vice Chairman of CH2M HILL’s Board of Directors, was honored by the American Society of Military Engineers, SAME, with its Golden Eagle Award. He was recognized as visionary leader in the design and construction industry.
(View Unlimited Article)

Project Awards – 2008 – Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources
The Milwaukee Water Pollution Abatement Program has been recognized with a special Wonders of Wisconsin Engineering Award presented by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Wisconsin as part of its 50-year anniversary.

CH2M HILL was the program manager for this 18-year program, working with a diverse team of district and program subconsultants to manage, design, and deliver more than 300 construction and equipment contracts. This landmark project served as a catalyst for CH2M HILL’s future program management services.

In 1977, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, which served more than 1 million people, launched a $2.3-billion program, the largest public works project in Wisconsin history, to reduce the frequency of untreated sewage into Lake Michigan following large storms. The program increased treatment capacity and replaced aging infrastructure by upgrading the two treatment plants, improving and replacing sewer lines, constructing several deep tunnels to store peak-period sewage flows, and constructing a new biosolids fertilizer production plant.

The program, which ended in 1994, was delivered 1 year ahead of schedule and within 8 percent of the original budget. Few public works programs of this magnitude can equal this accomplishment.
(View Unlimited Article)

Project Awards – 2008 – Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation
Scheduled for completion in 2014, the Panama Canal expansion project is adding new, larger locks, which will allow longer and wider ships to pass through the canal. These new locks, when completed, will allow the canal to double its capacity. Earlier this year, two prestigious project awards were given.

On March 6, the Autoridad del Canal de Panama, or APC (Panama Canal Authority and CH2M HILL’s client) received the prestigious Samoter 2008 International Most Significant Project in the World award. The award honors those that, through significant works and technological advanced projects, contribute to the development of construction at both national and international levels.

In April, at the sixth Latin American Leadership Form held in Miami, Florida, the Panama Canal expansion project was also named the Long Term Performance Project of the Year, recognizing world-class Latin American infrastructure projects; and the Strategic Project of the Year, recognizing those projects that are changing the construction industry in Latin America.
(View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – 2008 – CH2M HILL – General
The job is to transform a neglected industrial area in East London into a massive world-class sports complex—the platform for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Planning, procurement, design, and construction must all be accomplished within the space of just a few years. The Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA’s) £8.1 billion (more than U.S.$15 billion) program for the Olympic Park is one of Europe’s largest infrastructure and regeneration efforts. It includes construction of an 80,000-seat stadium, an aquatics center, a velopark for cycling events, an Olympic Village for athletes, and related transportation and infrastructure improvements.

To deliver a program of this magnitude and complexity, the ODA selected CLM Delivery Partner, a consortium of CH2M HILL and two British firms, Laing O’Rourke and Mace. The members of CLM have experience on seven Olympic Games and a track record for success both in large-scale international program management and in the growing sport market. CLM began working closely with the ODA to oversee all facility and infrastructure development for the London Games. In just 14 months, they completed initial planning and platform work for the Olympic Park. Large-scale construction began in summer 2008.

When the Games conclude in September 2012, all land and facilities will be transformed for legacy use. The Olympic Park will become one of Europe’s largest urban parks, and the Olympic Village will be converted to 3,000 homes for Londoners.
(View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – 2008 – Design-Build – Transportation
When Interstate 5 (I-5) opened in the 1950s, it adequately served the needs of residents in and out of Seattle, Washington. But in recent years, with 170,000 cars using the highway daily, this stretch of I-5 had become overcrowded.

In 2005, the Washington State Department of Transportation selected the Atkinson-CH2M HILL team to provide design-build services for the I-5 expansion project in Snohomish County. The project was originally slated to begin in 2009 and end in 2012. But state officials, anticipating increased traffic demands related to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in nearby Vancouver, BC, decided to shorten the project schedule. CH2M HILL’s design-build project helped meet this major schedule shift.

The design-build approach gave the department flexibility in how it approached the widening project. As an example, late in the construction project, it was decided to add an interchange and overpass costing $48.2 million. The $263-million project, completed ahead of schedule, was estimated to have saved the state $20 million by designing the project of the fly.
(View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – 2008 – Operation and Maintenance
July 1 is a milestone for the city of Centennial, Colorado, and CH2M HILL OMI. For Centennial, it is the first day the city will have its own public works department. The contract with the 100,000-person city, which was incorporated in 2001, was the only practical approach. Until this year of 2008 when the city developed its own public works department, it relied on county services. Without a private company like OMI, it would have been difficult and costly to start new departments from scratch.

For CH2M HILL OMI, this contract marks the launch of its first public works services contract in Colorado. OMI will manage a full scope of services for Centennial, including traffic engineering and operations; permit processing; inspections; administrative services; and street and roadside maintenance, including snow removal.

Partnering with communities to provide public works such as road maintenance, mowing, and more actually began in 1992 when CH2M HILL OMI added public works to its traditional services menu of operations and maintenance for water and wastewater treatment systems. Today public works include many services such as fleet maintenance, street and signage maintenance, parks and grounds maintenance, mosquito control, and solid-waste collection. View Unlimited Article

This successful public works practice includes:

15+ years of delivering public works services
525+ employees involved in public works projects
150+ contract years of experience
6 states and 17 communities where associates manage public works: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oregon
944 vehicles maintained at the three largest public works projects in Georgia – Hinesville, Effingham County, and Richmond Hill – including:
- 218 police vehicles
- 70 fire and emergency response vehicles
- 11 mass transit vehicles
- 645 other vehicles such as pickup trucks, city fleet automobiles, and miscellaneous motorized equipment

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – 2008 – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources
The River Thames is set to become cleaner and healthier thanks to the London Tideway Tunnels, one of London’s largest capital improvement programs. The tunnels will overhaul the city’s sewerage system, substantially reducing discharges of untreated sewage to the River Thames. London’s sewerage system was an engineering wonder when it was first unveiled in the mid-1800s. But despite major improvements throughout the twentieth century, the system is regularly overwhelmed with more wastewater than it can handle.

The Thames Tunnel will run up to 32 kilometers (20 miles) through central London, intercepting 34 combined sewer overflows. The shorter Lee Tunnel will tackle the largest single combined sewer overflow at Abbey Mills near Stratford, capturing some 16 million cubic meters of untreated sewage each year. At up to 75 meters (262 feet), the tunnels will be the deepest ever constructed in London. Challenges abound in a project of this scope and complexity, particularly one that is situated in the center of one of Europe’s largest and oldest cities. In 2020, when the system goes online, the River Thames, a true national asset, will be protected for future generations.

CH2M HILL has been working with Thames Water to develop the tunnels since March 2008. The work includes overseeing the projects from planning to construction, securing planning agreements, preliminary and final design, construction, stakeholder communication, and the commissioning and startup of new facilities.

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – 2008 – Transportation – Highways, Overpasses, and Bridges
A $45-million highway and bridge project on the Coal Creek Parkway completed the final gap along a 6-mile road that parallels I-405 in New Castle, Washington. The project, located about 5 miles south of CH2M HILL’s Belleview office, widened the old two-lane rural road into a modern four-lane road and included bike lanes, sidewalks, traffic signals, lighting, stormwater facilities, wetland mitigation, retaining walls, and trail connections.

CH2M HILL also replaced the May Creek Bridge – built in the 1950s – that spans protected salmon spawning waters. A major challenge in designing and constructing the bridge foundations was the poor soil stability and artesian conditions from May Creek located just 10 feet from bridge piers. Because CH2M HILL was both the designer and construction manager, this very difficult phase of construction was completed on time, on budget, and without incident.
(View Unlimited Article)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – 2008 – Transportation – Airports, Harbors, and Ports
The current program management contract for the Port of Seattle at Seattle-Tacoma (Sea-Tac) International Airport (STIA) wraps up on December 31, 2008. Begun in 1998, this 10-year, $3.3 billion program management contract has been the settling for CH2M HILL employees working to provide design, construction, and operations projects with 24/7 public access at an airport handling 31 million passengers in 2007.

The South Terminal expansion (Concourse A) added 14 gates, additional baggage handling, and a new five-story airport office building to consolidate airport staff located at multiple, inefficient locations onsite and offsite.

A Central Terminal expansion/concessions program gave the STIA client an opportunity to create for travelers and residents a new Pacific Northwest, award winning, retail, dinning, and gift store experience. Over 4 years, beginning in 2004, more than 20 tenants were contracted and created their own unique stores in 80 different locations.

Sea-Tac’s new Rental Car facility design may be the first of its kind to garner LEED certification. Taking advantage of a 90-foot natural grade change, this facility, when completed in 2011, will have four terraced levels that allow each floor to have its own fuel center while keeping the fueling operations on dirt.

The $1 billion Third runway expansion and airport road construction project created a new runway that will allow landings on two runways at the same time in all but the worst weather. In addition, CH2M HILL is improving existing roads and creating new ones to accommodate the arrival of a light-rail system in 2009.
(View Unlimited Article)

Industrial Business Sector – 2008 – IDC Architects
Industrial Business Sector’s (IBM’s) Roadrunner supercomputer will be capable of sustained speed of up to 1,000 trillion calculations per second, or one petaflop. Such a large computer generates heat that must be actively managed at the Nicholas C. Metropolis Data Center, U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. During the last several years, Industrial Design Corporation (IDC) Architects, a division of CH2M HILL, has been keeping one of the world’s largest data centers cool.

CH2M HILL’s airflow modeling experts used a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology to help the facility manage increasing thermal loads while minimizing cooling costs. CDF software calculates and graphically depicts airflow patterns on a computer screen. It visually animates and color-codes such critical criteria as airflow velocity, pressure, and temperature. The CDF simulations have saved money by determining exactly how much cooling capacity is required to handle current and projected thermal loads, and by identifying design improvements that boost cooling efficiencies. It showed that the data center could handle the Roadrunner and all the other equipment that had been planned and projected without adding any cooling capacity. The model simulation also demonstrated that, with some relatively inexpensive improvements, the existing cooling capacity would be able to handle another 20-percent increase in thermal loads beyond current plans.
(View Unlimited Article)

Industrial Business Sector – 2008 – Electronics and Advanced Technology
CH2M HILL’s Enterprise Management Solutions (EMS) Business Group was awarded a project by Cable & Wireless South Atlantic Ltd. to help enhance the communications network for residents in rural areas of the Falkland Islands. The Falkland Islands, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom (UK), are located 563 kilometers (350 miles) off the South American mainland and 1,368 kilometers (850 miles) north of the Antarctic Circle. The Falkland Islands consist of main islands – East and West Falkland – and 700 smaller islands. The islands host a population of 2,400, of which 2,100 live in Stanley, in the southern most capital in the world. The remaining inhabitants live in rural settlements and farms known as “The Camp.” The Camp covers almost 12,170 square kilometers (4,700 square miles).

The EMS group from the UK is to provide project management services for the rollout of a new network to upgrade telephony and provide broadband connectivity to The Camp for the first time. The new network will also provide an important improvement in the quality of “Camp Education” for children by giving them electronic tools such as webcams and Net Meeting capability to replace lesions that are currently delivered via telephone and radio broadcasts. Another plus could be to allow more business to be located in The Camp and to stem the decline in The Camp population in recent years.
(View Unlimited Article)

Industrial Business Sector – 2008 – Manufacturing and Life Sciences
CH2M HILL completes its first Procter & Gamble (P&G) in Singapore, one of hundreds of projects CH2M HILL has completed for P&G during the last 26 years. This landmark plant project will supply more than 3 million kilograms (6.6 million pounds) of perfume annually for P&&G brands sold across Asia. Innovative features in the plant include advanced real-time inventory and production-control systems, a “scent library” where more than 300 perfume ingredients are immediately available, and an odor-evaluation room for quality control assessment of perfumes produced at the plant.

CH2M HILL’s scope of services included front-end engineering, construction-permitting, as well as support of the P&G team on procurement and detailed design. The project earned a P&G Safety Award recognizing 75,000 accident-free work hours.
(View Unlimited Article)

2009

People – Ralph Peterson – 2009
On September 2, 209, after an unprecedented 44 years of service at CH2M HILL, CEO Ralph Peterson succumbed to his lengthy and brave fight against cancer. The loss was keenly felt among employees and clients alike and entailed a significant period of grieving. (Ralph Peterson Tribute) (Eulogy for Ralph Peterson by Bud Ahearn)

People – Lee McIntire – 2009
Fortunately, the forward-thinking leader had arranged his succession prior to his passing. In January 2009, Lee McIntire took hold of the CH2M HILL reins. A seasoned executive who had spent much of his career at renowned global powerhouse Bechtel, Lee already had 3 years at CH2M HILL under his belt, working with Ralph as president and chief operating officer. Along with his specialized experience, Lee also brought the unique perspective of being the first CEO to hail from outside the company. (Read More)

People – Paint Your Heart Out – 2009
About 10 years ago, the City of Anaheim, CA, received one of Jim Howland’s many Municipal Excellence Awards from the National League of Cities for their Paint Your Heart Out (PYHO) program – a nonprofit corporation that restores homes owned by low income seniors and the disabled. PYHO was founded about 20 years ago. Last year, 59 homes were painted in the communities of Anaheim, Brea, Orange, and Santa Ana. They will paint their 900th home in 2009!

On the day Jim was to present the award to PYHO at the City Council meeting, his flight was cancelled due to a storm in the Portland area. Jim called the Santa Ana office for help with the presentation. It was this presentation that introduced Don Marske to PYHO, and Jim’s recognition of it, that inspired him to pull a CH2M HILL team together to start painting houses for PYHO. It is now 10 years later and our Santa Ana office, in partnership with the Orange County Sanitation District, is still painting houses along with 60 other teams that assemble over 1,500 volunteers to prep the house on one Saturday and paint on another Saturday.

Awards – People – Tom Gibbs – 2009
Tom Gibbs received a 2009 Diamond Award for Distinguished Achievement from the University of Washington, College of Engineering on May 8th. The award recognizes the outstanding achievements, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship of all engineers.

Using his skills in engineering, management, and team building, Tom created innovative and lasting environmental legacies. His work for a sustainable environment nationally and in two major cities was of historic importance to the clean water movement. He led construction of Metro’s acclaimed cleanup of Lake Washington and Puget Sound, earning commendation from the White House in 1971.

Tom was program manager for Milwaukee’s ambitious and very successful Water Pollution Abatement Program. While in Milwaukee, he sparked the transformation of the downtown riverfront from a polluted eyesore to a dynamic urban destination. He also oversaw the integration of four declining transit systems in the Seattle area into the award-winning Metro Transit program.

In 1969, Tom created the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, which is still a highly respected contributor to national environmental issues. He played a significant role in the development of the original Clean Water Act in 1972. Tom continued his career at CH2M HILL as executive vice president and director of water practice with responsibility for all of the firm’s domestic water engineering projects.

As a community service advocate, during his career and following retirement in 1997, Tom’s leadership has touched many organizations. He has been recognized as Engineer of the Year by both the Washington Society of Professional Engineers and the Consulting Engineers Council of Washington. (Read More)

Awards – People – Ralph Peterson – 2009
Ralph Peterson Receives Honor for Service to Society on June 13. CH2M HILL Chairman Emeritus Ralph Peterson received the 2009 Oregon State University Distinguished Service Award at the school’s commencement ceremony for his contributions to society— locally and globally. Ralph joins CH2M HILL co-founders Holly Cornell, Jim Howland, Burke Hayes, and Fred Merryfield, who were honored with the award in 1986. He graduated from OSU in 1969 with a Bachelor’s Degree in civil engineering.

“The list of accolades for Ralph’s contributions is long and impressive,” wrote Colorado Governor Bill Ritter in a letter to OSU’s Faculty and Awards committee. “However, Ralph’s positive impact on OSU, Oregon, Colorado, the nation, and the world is not best measured by the awards he has received, but by the example he has set as a role model and mentor for thousands of his colleagues throughout his career.”

Awards – CH2M HILL – Australia and New Zealand – 2009
Yet another honor has been bestowed on the Australia and New Zealand Region thanks in part to the hard work and dedication of Russell Green, the regional quality manager.

It all started when a submittal by Russell was sent to SAI Global as part of a gap analysis to see where CH2M HILL needed to strengthen its ISO 9001 accredited Quality Management Systems. Then, about a month later on the evening of June 3 in Brisbane at the 21st annual Australian Business Excellence Awards ceremony, he proudly received the winner’s trophy and certificate in the category for Quality Management Systems (50-500 employees).

The Australian Business Excellence Awards are recognized as Australia’s premier business awards. They present an opportunity for a broad range of businesses and organizations from across Australia to celebrate and showcase their excellence against internationally recognized business principles. This year was the first for the Systems Excellence Awards, which recognize excellence in management systems for SAI Global-certified companies.

As stated by SAI Global, “A truly excellent organization is able to understand and act on what its stakeholders want achieved. This year’s winners (including CH2M HILL) demonstrate how they have been able to do this to stay resilient and succeed in these challenging times.”

Awards – CH2M HILL – Air National Guard’s GeoBase Program – 2009
The onsite team supporting the Air National Guard’s GeoBase Program was recognized as a “Strategic Business Partner” during the Commander’s Call on May 20, 2009.

Retired Colonel Albro presented the team with the award for their excellence in service, dedication, and business practices — a true EMS model of Global Delivery Center of Excellence (GDCOE). This award bodes well for the many years of commitment the onsite team has given toward the mission and vision of the Air National Guard, and is key to the expansion of the program.

To date, there are 15 CH2M HILL employees operating the Air National Guard’s Geospatial Integration Office, led by Lt. Colonel Pape, located at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, and various regions throughout the United States. This is significant since the program’s inception dating back to 2002. (Read More)

Sustainability – 2009
The following message is excerpted from a CH2M HILL 2009 Report. For the full report, along with the following message from the senior leadership of CH2M HILL, see the enclosed 40page report as a read more (CH2M HILL Sustainability Report for 2009)

Message from Senior Leadership
Around the world, a host of converging sustainability issues is changing the natural world, the built environment, and the way we live on Earth, often in significant ways. At no other time has it been clearer that energy, water, climate change, and land development are intertwined. One might even say that these issues have introduced an era of complex change, in which nothing stays the same and everything is connected.

While the risks associated with these issues pose challenges to our clients, they also create opportunities for CH2M HILL to offer practical and innovative solutions.

Energy – Energy management and renewable energy sources are experiencing robust growth, driven by factors such as volatility in energy prices, increasing global demand, and economic uncertainty. The relationship among energy consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and climate change has focused investment in carbon capture, storage, and sequestration technologies. In response, we are investing in further growth of our expertise in these areas.

Water – The effects of climate change are expected to exacerbate water supply, stormwater management, and sanitation issues on every continent. Our water experts are working with clients to develop proactive climate adaptation strategies in these three areas. At the design level, we are integrating sustainability into water and wastewater treatment facilities — applying green building approaches, water reuse strategies, onsite stormwater management, and protocols for estimating and monitoring GHG emissions.

Climate Change – With GHG regulations on legislative dockets throughout the world and updated emission forecasts showing accelerated impacts, climate change is a top issue facing our industry. While a high volume of business related to GHG management and climate adaptation is not yet at hand, we expect a sea change as more legislation is passed. In preparation, we are keeping pace with the latest findings and have developed specialized expertise to conduct GHG inventories, devise mitigation and adaptation strategies, and prepare clients for regulated carbon markets.

Land Development and Planning – Multiple trends are affecting land development: rising public interest in improving “green” practices and quality of life, cities competing globally for business and talented citizens, land-use decisions affecting energy consumption and climate, and “ecosystem services” providing value to infrastructure systems and human health. Our people are finding ways to quantify the value of ecosystem services; creating tools for sustainable master planning; and designing sustainable transportation, stormwater management systems, and green buildings.

While the scope and complexity of these challenges can be daunting, there is tremendous – perhaps unprecedented – motivation for innovation and positive change. CH2M HILL is committed to providing the leadership and action to enhance the sustainability of our own organization and the clients and communities we serve. Accordingly, we continue to support the United Nations Global Compact principles, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Water For People, Engineers Without Borders-USA, and many other organizations that are advancing sustainable solutions in diverse settings.

Our planet and humanity are dealing with many issues. However, in our opinion, the most critical are the interconnected issues of water, energy, climate change, and land development. Our company’s strategy is to focus on the nexus of these. Around the world our customers are dealing with these issues and, together, we’re learning to think and work in new ways.

“I’ve been watching a new debate emerging, which asks whether the environment is now driving the world’s economy. I don’t think it is—yet—but there are several major environmental issues facing the planet and humanity. How do we adapt to the new carbon economy? How should we design water and energy systems, and develop land differently? It’s an exciting time to be creating new solutions, and we’re right in the middle of it.”
— Lee McIntire Chief Executive Officer
CH2M HILL

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources – Singapore Sewerage – 2009
The treatment of wastewater in Singapore steps into the future next week with the opening of phase one of a deep tunnel sewerage system and the Changi water reclamation plant. The concept for Singapore’s deep tunnel sewerage system was first conceived in the late 1990s. At that time, Singapore had in place a comprehensive wastewater system, comprising over 3,000 kilometers (km) of sewers and pumping mains, 100 pumping stations, and six water reclamation plants serving the tiny 704-km² island with a burgeoning 4.2 million people.

The demands on the system increased in line with population and industrial growth, but the option to continue expanding the treatment capacity of the plants and adding more pumping stations was unsustainable in land-scarce Singapore. Confronted with these challenges, Singapore’s Public Utilities Board (PUB) embarked on a bold and radical approach with the plan to build an entirely new wastewater infrastructure that would take up less space and progressively phase out the existing system. “One of the drivers was to reduce land take. Singapore has only around 700 km² of land.” Yong Wei Hin, Singapore’s Public Utilities Board assistant director.

Wastewater is collected in sewers and conveyed to the 48-km-long deep tunnel sewer, which runs 20 m to 55 m belowground. The deep tunnel sewer takes the water to the centralized Changi Water Reclamation Plant for treatment. The new system depends on gravity − it is graded towards one end so there is no need for intermediate pumping.

Eight earth pressure balance tunnel boring machines (TBMs) were used concurrently to drive the 48-km-long tunnel, which varied between 3.3 m and 6 m in diameter.

This project has involved 49 main contractors and consultants, with over 300 subcontractors and suppliers. A joint venture of consultants CH2M HILL and Parsons Brinckerhoff carried out a feasibility study of the deep tunnel sewerage system and designed the 48-km-long tunnels.

The Changi Water Reclamation Plant is efficient in its land use. The plant has double-stacked treatment tanks and a six-story building with three stories of basement that houses the sludge handling facilities. At 32 hectare (ha), it has taken up only a third of the conventionally designed water reclamation plant’s land area, according to PUB. The treated wastewater is channeled to a processing facility called Changi Newater Factory on the rooftop of the reclamation plant. Here it is further purified through advanced membrane technologies. The processed water can be consumed by humans and is used in industry where high purity water is required.

The Changi Water Reclamation Plant, on the eastern side of the island, became one of the world’s largest greenfield wastewater reclamation facilities. The plant, commissioned in 2009, was designed to have an initial average capacity of 211 million gallons per day. It will be expanded in subsequent phases to provide a final capacity of 634 million gallons per day. Taking advantage of the latest technologies, CH2M HILL designed a demonstration project and water-reclamation plants to produce potable water from reclaimed secondary effluent. Beginning in 1997, CH2M HILL also provided planning, design, construction management, and commissioning services for a unique, large-scale wastewater deep-tunnel conveyance and treatment system.

The entire $4.5 billion program will help Singapore meet its infrastructure needs for the next 40 years and will result in cleaner waters around the island, a healthier environment for the people of Singapore, and the enhancement of Singapore’s reputation as a high-tech center in Asia. (Read More)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources – El Paso Water Utility – 2009
The CH2M HILL El Paso office has been providing water and wastewater engineering services to El Paso Water Utility (EPWU) for the past 15 years and recently won its first major stormwater project. With the average yearly rainfall in El Paso less than 8 inches, a stormwater program was a hard sell until August 2006, when the city had a wake-up call with 15 inches of rain in a day that caused major flooding and more than $250 million in damages.
El Paso Water Utility recently took over the stormwater utility function from the City and developed a stormwater master plan that included $650 million of improvements over the next 5 years. To design these improvements, they invited 22 local and national engineering firms to submit proposals. CH2M HILL’s El Paso office was selected to do the design for the biggest and most complex project, the Piedras-Durazno Stormwater Force Main.

The project consists of a mile of 96-inch force main and a mile of 5-foot by 4-foot box culvert in the initial phase, and an 84 acre-foot stormwater storage pond in Phase Two. The total estimated value of this project is $14 million. The key for winning was coming up with an innovative solution that can potentially save EPWU more than $2 million in construction costs.

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources – Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District – 2009
The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District has selected CH2M HILL to lead the design of its Gas Turbines Replacement Project, which will replace two 38-year-old natural gas turbines at the Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility with five 4.6megawatt (MW) turbine systems capable of using landfill gas or natural gas. The estimated constructed value of the project is $43 million.

This green energy project will provide the District and its customers significant benefits — including up to $145 million in energy cost savings over the next 20 years, as well as a 50 percent reduction in the plant’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. The turbine replacement project entails much more than a straightforward power generation facility design. It includes complexities related to waste heat utilization and critical interfaces with solids drying systems. Waste heat from the combustion will be used to dry wastewater sludge to create Milorganite, a fertilizer product. (Read More)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Water, Wastewater, and Water Resources – U.S. Bureau of Reclamation – 2009
CH2M HILL has been selected for one of the largest stimulus-funded design projects to be implemented by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The project is to design a 42-cubic-foot-per-second (cfs) (~28 million-gallons-per-day [mgd]) water supply system — including a river intake, pump station, fish screen, and pipeline — for the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery Complex. Leavenworth is one of the largest Chinook hatcheries in the Columbia River basin and is located in North-central Washington State.

A recent Operations and Management (O&M) evaluation at Leavenworth suggested the existing water supply system is at risk of imminent failure. Inability to operate the hatchery would have severe consequences for production of Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA)-listed salmon brood stock, meeting Reclamation’s Grand Coulee Dam mitigation requirements, and satisfying the 2008 Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion. American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) funding for the water supply system and appurtenant structures is $18.1 M.

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Operations and Maintenance – Temple, TX – 2009
Temple, located in central Texas, began its partnership with CH2M HILL OMI in 1994. The city’s wastewater facility serves nearly 55,000 citizens. In addition to operating and maintaining the wastewater facility, a team of six associates operates 28 lift stations and administers the industrial pretreatment program.

The city council in Temple, Texas, voted unanimously in late May to approve a 5year contract renewal with CH2M HILL OMI for O&M services — a vote that came 4 months early — extending our partnership to 2014.

The early noncompete renewal for team Temple was the result of CH2M HILL OMI’s building a strong client relationship and proving ourselves to a public works director who was against contract operations. Project Manager Chris Parker, along with the entire Temple team, gained the director’s support and transformed his thinking only to hear him say that any other company would have to outdo what we do best.

Temple employees recently earned five safety awards from the National Safety Council: the Perfect Record Award, the Certificate of Merit Award, the Safety Leadership Award, the Occupational Excellence Achievement Award, and the company’s first-ever Fleet Perfect Record Award for no vehicle accidents. In the history of the project, the Temple team has never had a lost-time injury accident. Employee longevity has contributed to the safety accomplishments of the Temple team. (Read More)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Rails – London – 2009
In March 2009, Crossrail Ltd. appointed CH2M HILL the Programme Partner for the UK’s largest rail infrastructure program in a half century. Crossrail will provide an affordable, world-class rail system that spans the breadth of London, from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. The 74-mile rail line is currently the largest civil engineering effort in Europe; and, as a critical investment in London’s future, substantial economic benefits will flow from Crossrail beyond London’s boundaries to the rest of the UK.

Massive twin-bore tunnels in Central London and a second tunnel network linking the system to Heathrow Airport are centerpieces of the project. All told, 26 miles of new tunnels will be dug. Two 20-foot-wide tunnels will link to each other and the surface at regular intervals, providing ventilation and access for operations and maintenance. Once construction is under way, work crews will operate eight massive tunnel boring machines around the clock. The program also calls for construction of eight new stations in central London, with extensive renovations at another 28 existing rail stations. The Crossrail system will comprise 37 stations overall.

CH2M HILL and its joint venture partners have a combined workforce of 2,000 employees dedicated to the Crossrail program. The team will work in step with the client to ensure that safety, quality, and budget are maintained, while looking for innovative approaches to the engineering and logistical challenges faced by a program of this size and complexity. (Read More)

Civil Infrastructure Business Sector – Transportation – Airports, Harbors, Ports – Panama Canal Expansion Program – 2009
Since its opening in 1914, the Panama Canal has been one of the world’s most vital transportation corridors, linking east and west and fostering trade, travel, and the expansion of global markets. In spite of the immense scale of the original project that cut the 50-mile waterway through the jungles of Panama, by the early 21st century, the canal was at risk of becoming obsolete. The architects and designers of the canal could not have foreseen that in 100 years’ time, the size of ships would grow to such an extent that the canal would be un-navigable for many of the world’s largest freighters.

The canal needed a dramatic engineering overhaul to increase capacity and accommodate today’s larger ships. To address this need, the Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP) launched the $5.25 billion Panama Canal Expansion Program. It was an engineering marvel in 1914, when the first steamship entered its eastern locks. No less impressive will be the canal of 2014, designed and constructed for the people of Panama and the future of global trade.

CH2M HILL is assisting the ACP in the program management of the Panama Canal Expansion Program, which will add a third set of locks to the historic waterway. The new locks will provide an additional lane of traffic, doubling the canal’s tonnage capacity and allowing the transit of much longer, wider, Post-Panamax ships through the waterway. The firm is managing numerous contracts, including those for design and construction of the new locks on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the canal, by providing expertise directly or through subcontracts with firms from around the world on every aspect of the program. (Read More)

Federal Business Sector – Government, Environment, and Nuclear – Hanford — 2009
Work was completed this week to shut down the research reactor, which Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) supporters say is the Department of Energy’s largest and most modern reactor. The research reactor has not operated since 1992, but work has been under way to deactivate it to a state that will require the minimum of surveillance and maintenance short of tearing it down.

Work began, under Fluor Hanford, to drain liquid sodium from the reactor in 2003. Sodium was used to cool the reactor when it produced a variety of medical and industrial isotopes and provided research and testing of components and systems for advanced nuclear power systems. The last of the fuel remaining at the reactor was shipped to Idaho National Laboratory for processing a year ago. Since then, work has been under way, most recently by new contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Co., to continue to deactivate equipment and remove hazardous and other materials from the reactor.

That included removing 114,000 gallons of antifreeze from piping and emptying polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from transformers. Refrigerants, oils, and some residual sodium that had puddled in low areas of the piping system also were removed. Workers collected 60 tons of paper from the FFTF complex to recycle. That was in addition to 400 to 500 boxes of papers that were saved as technically or historically valuable.

CH2M HILL also has reduced the pressure for the argon system after argon was added to pipes that once held sodium. Power has been shut off to parts of the complex, including 14 support buildings. However, necessary systems remain, such as a fire detection system. Sodium also continues to be stored there until it can be used at the vitrification plant once it begins treating radioactive waste left from weapons production at Hanford.

The work to shut down the reactor was done safely and way ahead of schedule. (Read More)

Industrial Business Sector – Electronics and Advanced Technology – Working in the Wine Country – 2009
The marriage of technology and winemaking can produce surprising benefits. In northern California’s wine country, Ceágo Vinegarden and its owner, Jim Fetzer, established its mission “to blend new information technologies and sustainable farming practices to improve crop quality, operating efficiency, and environmental performance of viticulture operations.” The vineyard was already using geospatial (GIS) technologies to track its operations, but it needed a world-renowned systems integrator to coordinate the GIS data layers, the computer server, weather stations, and sensor pods.

Relying on CH2M HILL’s experts in Web services, wireless technologies, GIS, and environmental sciences, the goal of the project was to monitor grape yield and quality, including sugar levels and pH, while reducing costs. Critical to success was CH2M HILL’s ability to track growing methods, weather conditions, and timing of the harvest.