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Black & Veatch celebrates a century

Global infrastructure business says it is celebrating its 100th Anniversary Across 16 Time Zones. And it’s made a very smart video too.

Black & Veatch marked 100 years of providing critical infrastructure for clients around the world on Wednesday 12 August.  You can take a look at it's special video - Building a world of difference - made to mark the event, above.

The firm was founded in 1915 by Ernest Bateman Black and Nathan Thomas Veatch with 12 employees; it now provides energy, telecommunications and water solutions in more than 100 countries.

“For a century, Black & Veatch has provided the building blocks for business, technology and communities to grow and prosper around the world. We carry our history of innovation and putting clients first in everything we do today,” said Steve Edwards, chairman and CEO. “This approach has helped us grow to more than 10,000 professionals working on more than 6,000 projects across the globe. While we celebrate our 100th year, we also believe our most exciting opportunities are yet to come.”

“We are very proud to look back on our achievements but even more excited when we look at what we are delivering for our clients now and the exciting opportunities we see ahead" - Scott Aitken, MD, Water Europe

The company has been commemorating its centennial with celebrations at locations around the globe – with events taking place across 16 time zones.

“In the UK Black & Veatch has an incredible engineering heritage and from this capability of engineering excellence offers a unique combination of integrated design-build and professional services,” said Scott Aitken, managing director, Water Europe. “What sets us apart is the ability to support every point in the lifecycle of clients’ assets. This gives us extensive opportunities to grow the business further that are being realised.

“We are very proud to look back on our achievements but even more excited when we look at what we are delivering for our clients now and the exciting opportunities we see ahead for our professionals and our business here in the UK and in our other strategic areas in Europe.” 

“The opportunities for our professionals are very strong in both traditional infrastructure projects and emerging markets,” said Edwards. “As we look back at the past century we see that technology continues to revolutionise the industries we serve. We look forward to helping our clients navigate this period of change.”

Edwards also cited some key growth areas for the company as it enters its second century. These include engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and design-build projects, as well as significant growth in professional services for engineering, design and consulting. EPC projects provide value for clients in the energy, water and telecommunications sectors. The EPC approach reduces project risks for the client and delivers predictable results. It also increases the effectiveness of capital planning, Black & Veatch says.

The company highlighted key areas of development for the future as it eyes its second century. This includes the evolving implementation of Smart Integrated Infrastructure and Smart City projects will benefit communities and business. The sensors and data analytics being applied add efficiency to power, water and communications networks.

"For a century, Black & Veatch has provided the building blocks for business, technology and communities to grow and prosper around the world. We carry our history of innovation and putting clients first in everything we do today" - Steve Edwards, chairman and CEO

Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal are transforming the power market. They are gaining momentum in economies across Southeast Asia, Africa and other regions. Electricity generation, in turn, is becoming more decentralised. Microgrids will expand and offer greater security and efficiency for clients. They will promote environmentally friendly power generation.

Rising awareness of water scarcity issues will make the word “wastewater” a term of the past. Public acceptance of water reuse strategies is growing. Opportunities are expanding to efficiently treat and recycle water. Phosphorus recovery processes will improve and return nutrients to the land.

Always-on networks are producing waves of data that require storage. Energy, water and communications will rely heavily on cloud-based computing. This provides a strong business opportunity. The shale gas revolution continues to alter the global power generation market. Natural gas is a potential fuel of choice for transportation, marine, mining and new chemical applications.

Building a century

Here are some of the things Black and Veatch has been up to in the last 100 years.  

  • Design and construction supervision for Nottingham Left Bank Flood Alleviation Scheme, the UK’s biggest inland flood defense scheme
  • Engineering and procurement for the first hybrid solar plant in the US, and one of the first of its kind in the world; Martin County, Florida, USA.
  • Design and construction for Glencorse Water Treatment Works, Edinburgh, Scotland. Described by former ICE President Paul Jowitt as “not only an exemplar project in terms of critical infrastructure, but also in terms of sustainable development and carbon reduction, both in terms of construction and operation.”
  • Design and construction for the largest contiguous electric vehicle charging system in the world, Tesla Motors’ Supercharger network. USA.
  • Mangla Dam, Pakistan. At the time, the largest civils project ever given to a private firm of consultants.
  • Construction management, engineering and design for Kusile Power Station, one of the largest energy infrastructure projects under construction in the world. Witbank, South Africa.
  • Designed and built advanced digestion plant at Davyhulme Wastewater Treatment Works, Manchester. Generates 11.5 megawatts of energy from sewage sludge. Winner of Innovation and Excellence category, IChemE 2013 awards.
  • Project management and engineering, procurement and construction management services for the USA’s first nationwide fibre optic network communications network.
  •  Engineer, procurement and construction for first-of-its-kind sulphur processing facility and tail gas treating unit at one of the world’s largest oil export refineries; Jamnagar, India.
  • Completed Ukraine’s first Biological Safety laboratory under the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Biological Threat Reduction Program; Odessa, Ukraine.
  • Engineer, procurement and construction on first-of-a-kind projects to convert three Golar liquid natural gas carriers into floating liquified natural gas production vessels, international.

 

If you would like to contact Jackie Whitelaw about this, or any other story, please email jackie.whitelaw@infrastructure-intelligence.com.