CH2M HILL DISTINCTIVELY EXPANDS ONTO THE GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE STAGE, by KATHY SHANDLING (MaximsNewsNetwork)

   UNITED NATIONS - /MaximsNews Network / 6 February 2012 - In discussions about water/wastewater infrastructure project development and execution around the world, often the names of large European headquartered companies are highlighted given their earlier commitment to become global players and pursue business opportunities in emerging market countries located in Asia, Latin America, Africa, etc. 

In fact, it is the European companies that have been the dominant force within the international water/wastewater infrastructure development arena.  American and Asian companies – both water operators and engineering firms - have served a much smaller and a more secondary role over the last fifteen years.  

This is now changing with the evolution of companies like Sembcorp and Samsung who have both vastly expanded their commitment to the global water/wastewater infrastructure arena. And American engineering companies have also broadened their geographic commitment. Companies like Black & Veatch, AECOM, and MWH Global all actively pursue projects around the world.

But there is one particular American company that stands out for their proactive interest to continue to expand and commit to water/wastewater infrastructure projects across the globe (in the developing as well as advanced/middle income countries). The company is CH2M HILL.  

Headquartered in the Greater Denver metropolis within the state of Colorado, CH2M HILL was established in the mid 1940’s to help post-war United States embrace innovative engineering and/or consulting solutions as the country sought to move economic development forward.  It is often acknowledged that the company served as a catalyst to transform Denver into an international infrastructure engineering capital that is now home to a number of firms including the US headquarters of Arcadis and MWH Global.

And CH2M HILL is currently very energized and on a roll as they continue to expand their presence around the world – the firm has acquired a major UK engineer consulting firm (Halcrow), they have purchased the government transportation consulting practice of Booz Allen Hamilton, they have been reviewing acquisition opportunities in Brazil, they have launched an innovative water-related initiative known as “WaterMatch”, and they have established select strategic alliances including one with the University of Kansas to help transform the education of public leaders and one with C3 to help organizations better achieve financial value by deploying and sustaining effective strategic energy management capabilities (never overlook the strong energy-water nexus).   

CH2M HILL has also picked up several notable awards in CY2011 including an NCPPP award for their work on sustainability (with the city of Fayetteville, Arkansas), the ACEC Grand Award for Engineering Excellence for the Round Butte Selective Water Withdrawal project (state of Oregon), the Project Management Institute’s PMI Project of the Year Award for the Prairie Waters Project (to expand water supply access in Aurora, CO), three Banksia Environmental Awards for the Gippsland Water Factory (an innovative wastewater treatment and recycling system in Victoria, Australia), recognition as a top 5 environmental firm in Silicon Valley (CA), recognition as a top green design firm by Engineering News Record, recognition for some of its rising junior engineers in which one was chosen as an ASCE 2011 New Face in Civil Engineering, and a GWI Global Water Award for the water re-use project of the year. (The project involved the removal, treatment, and re-use of roughly 10.0 million m3 of wastewater and sludge from a lake outside of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.)  

Gippsland Water Factory in Victoria, Australia   Photo © CH2M HILL

 

Photo of the Peter Binney Water Purification Facility which is part of the Prairie Waters Project in Aurora, CO   Photo © CH2M HILL

And recently, a CH2M Hill-produced “2011 Sustainability Report” was honored with a Silver Spotlight Award from the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP). The report featured the firm’s green building capabilities and a new program to reduce operational impacts at its clients’ water treatment plants and other facilities. (LACP received an unprecedented number of submissions [1,500] representing a broad range of industries and organizational sizes throughout the world.)

The company has also been named to the Fortune 100 “Best Companies to Work For” list in 2011.

CH2M HILL includes several divisions – ones focused on energy, transportation, environment, facility development/construction, resource management, and water.  

With respect to the water/wastewater infrastructure sector, the company is focused on the delivery of total water solutions that specifically seek to address a balanced approach to the overall water cycle. (The cycle includes water supplies, water treatment, conveyance, wastewater treatment, reuse and recovery, and redeployment of water to the local natural environment.)  Clients hail from all sectors - from utilities and water resource management agencies to industrial, energy and power, agricultural, and mining.

“Since our company’s founding with water as its core business, our work has helped create a cleaner, safer, more environmentally sustainable world,” says CH2M HILL Water Business Group President Bob Bailey.

Dedication ceremony for the Spokane Country Regional Water Reclamation Facility. Bob Bailey, the president of CH2M HILL's Water Business Group is fourth from the right   Photo © CH2M HILL

Services performed by the company range from master planning to engineering, program management, construction, design/build and other alternative delivery methods, and operations and maintenance.

CH2M HILL is one of the few engineering firms that can provide its clients with complete O&M services within the water/wastewater operations arena in addition to engineering technical expertise. Ultimately, the company believes in providing full-service delivery capability that involves the implementation of lasting water-related solutions for a given community. 

“We take a comprehensive, integrated approach to water management, helping our clients and their communities operate more efficiently, achieve cost savings, better manage risk, improve quality of life, and improve their social, economic and environmental position,” adds Bailey

While over 70% of CH2M HILL’s water-related activity is generated within North America, the company is passionately committed to geographically diversifying and is actively expanding its business opportunities in select regions around the world (including the Middle East and Asia).

For example, it is worth noting that the Public Works Authority in Qatar (Ashghal) has lately appointed CH2M HILL to oversee a QAR10-12 billion (US$2.7 - 3.3 billion) sewerage project that will focus on overhauling the wastewater services within developing areas of Doha over the next seven years.

And the recent acquisition of Halcrow will unquestionably contribute to the ongoing global expansion of the firm, particularly within the water/wastewater infrastructure project, advisory, and service sector. 

CH2M HILL officially acquired the British-headquartered Halcrow in early November 2011 for approximately £124M. According to the CEO of CH2M HILL, Lee McIntire, the acquisition will effectively combine the resources and technical expertise of two companies within select sectors including the global water infrastructure engineering and operations arena.  The acquisition of Halcrow will essentially double the international presence of CH2M HILL with expanding operations in Europe, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific region, and Latin America.

Notes Lee McIntire, “As the world’s population climbs above seven billion, the challenges posed to transportation, the environment, water use and urban architecture will require ever more innovative and complex solutions that we will now be uniquely able to provide.”

And while negotiations were underway that led to the purchase of Halcrow, CH2M HILL introduced the WaterMatch program as a specific water-related grassroots initiative that promotes the beneficial re-use of municipal effluent by the industrial and agricultural sectors which collectively represent roughly 88-90% of global water consumption. An online map application will enable industrial and agricultural operations to locate nearby municipal wastewater treatment plants whose treated effluent can then in turn serve as a contributing water supply source for daily working of these operations. 

Essentially, WaterMatch is all about the promotion and implementation of total water re-use in order to minimize the use of fresh water supplies for non-potable water needs.  The program is notable for its potential application both in urban/industrial as well as in more rural/agricultural regions of the world.  The program also involves the organization and execution of WaterMatch MeetUps.

“We launched WaterMatch to start a grassroots revolution to promote progress through partnerships and projects on the ground,” says CH2M HILL Vice President Jan Dell. “The virtual meeting place will enable local action on a global basis.”

“To foster ‘matchmaking’ even further, WaterMatch MeetUps will be organized and held around the world to provide an informal setting to allow municipalities and businesses to find reuse matches and discuss other common local interests,” adds Dell.

WaterMatch presentation and demonstration in which the country of Qatar is being identified   Photo © CH2M HILL

The first WaterMatch MeetUp was held in Doha (Qatar) in December 2011 as part of the World Petroleum Congress since water is recognized as a vital component of the operations of the energy industry.  Securing reliable water supplies is critical for successful business operations within the energy sector. The WaterMatch MeetUp enabled attendees at the Congress to effectively network for potential water re-use matches. More information about the WaterMatch program can be found on the website www.ch2m.com/watermatch/home/

Another notable CH2M HILL initiative established in 2011 was the implementation of an official partnership with the University of Kansas’ School of Public Affairs and Administration (a top ranked public administration program in the United States).  The partnership will specifically help enhance the School’s leadership as an important center of research and discussion when it comes to the future of city management, both domestically and internationally.

There will be three areas of focus as part of the new partnership: the education of emerging local government leaders about new strategies for the delivery of local services; the development of leaders and improved collaborative capacity within local government organizations; and the pursuit of research that is focused on the excellence and benefits of public-private collaboration.

The concept of public-private collaboration is a particular emphasis of this new CH2M HILL- University of Kansas partnership.  This kind of PPP collaboration can often lead to the effective outsourcing of local government services and/or the cultivation of notable outside consulting expertise in order to better provide more cost-effective solutions which can in turn enable local government leaders and managers to focus on the appropriate vision and strategy that can propel municipalities in a forward direction.

“The focus of local government is shifting from ‘government’ to ‘governance,’ from managing the organization to a broader view of facilitating community development by bringing together a range of governmental, quasi-governmental, non-profit and private-sector entities,” says Elisa M. Speranza, President of CH2M HILL’s Operations & Maintenance Business Group. “We’re thrilled to be working with KU’s premier program to build a better understanding of the benefits of public-private collaboration and to share the best practices we’ve developed over the past 30 years of working with local government.”

A University of Kansas public administration graduate class being led by a CH2M Hill director of technical estimating   Photo © CH2M HILL

The list of notable initiatives implemented at CH2M HILL could go on and on – both water and non-water related initiatives and accomplishments. The firm is soundly committed to diversifying its services. For example, CH2M HILL announced a recent signing of a significant Framework Agreement with Statoil Canada Ltd. The EPC contract will involve the company in Statoil’s Leismer Demonstration Project in a region (Northern Alberta, Canada) that boasts the world’s largest known reserves of unconventional oil.

Without question -- CH2M HILL has certainly experienced an impressive 2011 calendar year and is poised to continue its vibrant momentum in the coming 2012 year.  More importantly, there has been welcomed enthusiasm voiced by other private sector as well as public sector/parastatal players within the global infrastructure business sector for this kind international corporate development.

It will be interesting to witness the unfolding of CY2012 and what the coming year will yield for a dynamic company like CH2M HILL as the company effectively and strategically continues its quest to successfully export its infrastructure expertise (including its water/wastewater infrastructure expertise) around the world.   Stay tuned.

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