CH2M Hill
Specialty:
Full-service project delivery including design, construction, operation and remediation
Management:
Dave Sturtevant, area
manager
Founded: 1946
Headquarters: Denver; local office in Bellevue
2004 revenues: $50 million (local office)
Projected 2005 revenues: $50 million
Current projects: King County’s Brightwater sewage treatment plant; Lacey-Olympia-Tumwater-Thurston County treatment plant, 10-year contract with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10; several toxics cleanups for private clients in the Northwest
Environmental work accounts for about half of CH2M Hill’s $3 billion global business, and it’s a big part of the work at the employee-owned company’s local offices as well.
The company’s North American lead for sustainable development is located at its Bellevue office. Area manager Dave Sturtevant says he is excited to have CH2M Hill’s global sustainable development leader in nearby Vancouver, B.C., after a recent relocation from China.
The Bellevue office holds a 10-year contract with the U.S. EPA’s Northwest region to provide architect-engineering services for its Superfund program.
The firm recently brought the city of Seattle’s Cedar River water treatment plant on-line and will operate the plant for the next 20 years. The plant supplies about two-thirds of Seattle’s water and is reportedly the largest ultraviolet-ozone disinfection plant in the country.
Sturtevant says the firm is doing a lot more such turn-key jobs.
And the federal government’s focus on homeland security has provided increasing work in emergency and security management work.
Demand for sustainability
Sturtevant says the firm is also making more of its work green.
“There’s more and more stress on our urban areas — there will be more and more need to sustainably develop our communities,” Sturtevant says. Low-impact development, alternative energy sources and LEED certification are three growth areas for CH2M Hill locally.
Increasing pressure to preserve what open space remains in urban areas is also leading the company to do more geo-spatial work to help clients optimize the use of what land is available.
“It’s getting harder and harder to get around and develop new property,” says Sturtevant. “We’re applying GIS to help people manage their property better.”