Brown and Caldwell
Specialty: Comprehensive environmental consulting, with a focus on water issues
Management: Nancy Walker, Washington operations manager
Founded: 1947 (national); 1958 (Seattle)
Headquarters: Walnut Creek, Calif. (national); Seattle (local)
2004 revenues: $15 million (local)
Projected 2005 revenues: N/A, but expansion is expected
Current projects: Brightwater wastewater treatment plant design; Seattle Public Utilities sewer comprehensive plan; King County South Treatment Plant control systems update; Tulalip Tribes water comprehensive plan and control systems update; Suquamish Tribe utilities and casino groundwork
Photo by Steve Piccolo Brown and Caldwell is updating the control systems at King County’s South Treatment Plant in Renton. |
After the economy took a dive in 2001, Brown and Caldwell saw business begin to dry up.
“Everything went flat,” said Nancy Walker, the firm’s Washington operations manager. “People were uncertain what the future would bring.”
With municipalities — who make up the bulk of the firm’s clients — forced to do more with less, Brown and Caldwell saw an opportunity to move into business consulting.
“We’re looking for mechanisms to help our clients work more efficiently,” Walker explained.
That means helping them prioritize their needs, assess risks and build business cases for capital improvements.
The venture is paying off in a big way, Walker said, and clients are asking for the service without prompting.
Membranes are cool
Brown and Caldwell’s bread and butter, though, is all things water, including wastewater, infrastructure, potable water and ground water.
The “hot, cool thing” right now, said Walker, is water membrane technology, which can significantly improve the efficiency of the wastewater treatment process.
The upshot is that some areas currently served by septic systems are now better candidates for a new breed of smaller, cheaper treatment plants.
The $1.48 billion Brightwater treatment plant in Woodinville, which Brown and Caldwell is helping to design with CH2M Hill, will have one of the largest membranes ever designed.
Seeking Californians
Brown and Caldwell, as it has diversified over the past few years, has doubled from 60 employees to 120 and counting in offices in Seattle, Olympia and Kingston.
Walker’s biggest concern is attracting and keeping talent.
“Competition is fierce,” she said. “It’s really important to keep a good staff base ... and provide opportunities for growth and personal development so they don’t leave you.”
Seattle’s high housing prices are a turn-off job candidates from the South and Midwest, so Walker has focused her recruiting efforts on even pricier places such as California.
She worries about traffic, though. “If we don’t do something about it, we’ll max out on our growth. It is a limiting factor here.”