Photos and support materials for media.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (July 19, 2016) — The continued transformation of the power industry toward a more flexible and reliable power grid designed to accommodate low- and no-carbon generating resources helped drive a strong performance for Burns & McDonnell on the widely watched Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firms rankings. A record year for the Burns & McDonnell Transmission & Distribution (T&D) group propelled it to a No. 1 ranking in that category and contributed to an overall No. 1 ranking for Burns & McDonnell in the broader Power category.
Burns & McDonnell ranked No. 14 overall among the Top 500 firms, up three spots from the prior year.

“We are broadly diversified, serving 27 industry sectors covered by the ENR rankings,” says Burns & McDonnell chairman and CEO Greg Graves. “In addition to our leadership in the energy markets, Burns & McDonnell is also a leader in many other industries ranging from aviation to food and beverage.” 

“Power companies are investing many billions to build a more reliable and flexible grid,” adds John Olander, president of the T&D Group at Burns & McDonnell. “Our clients have trusted us to perform on some of the most difficult projects in North America and our success is leading to many other power-related projects ranging from university campuses and hospitals to independent power and nuclear plants.”

In addition to the T&D category, Burns & McDonnell ranked No. 4 in the ENR category covering Fossil Fuel-based power plants, No. 3 in ENR’s ranking of Cogeneration engineering firms, and No. 9 among firms providing services to the Nuclear power industry. 

Other highlights from the 2016 rankings:

• A No. 3 ranking in the Airports category, up from No. 11 in 2015
• A No. 3 ranking in Aerospace, up from No. 7 the prior year
• A No. 8 ranking in Refineries and Petrochemical services for the Oil and Gas industry, up from No. 9 the year before
• A No. 7 ranking in Food and Beverage engineering services, after not being ranked in the top 20 firms the prior year

Burns & McDonnell has long served the aviation industry, performing projects on major airports, regional airports and military airfields throughout the U.S. The current growth reflects significant new projects for New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Philadelphia International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

“The aviation industry is booming and Burns & McDonnell is engaged on a number of key, large projects as airlines and airports are in their best position in a number of years to make much-needed capital investments in their facilities,” said Bret Pilney, vice president of the Burns & McDonnell Aviation Group.

The Burns & McDonnell Food & Consumer Products group likewise moved up significantly in the ENR rankings, thanks to an upsurge in capital investment by major international companies.
“The food, beverage and consumer products industry is changing rapidly as public tastes change and concerns over food safety continues to grow,” said Jon Wright, principal and director of the Burns & McDonnell Food & Consumer Products group. “Our growth is due to our focus on providing true end-to-end business consulting for our clients designed to help them meet these market changes. With consulting backed by engineering, construction, plant startup and commissioning, our clients are opening plants that are much more flexible as they need to change product lines or scale up production.”

About Burns & McDonnell

Burns & McDonnell is a company made up of more than 5,400 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world. We strive to create amazing success for our clients and amazing careers for our employee-owners. Burns & McDonnell is 100 percent employee-owned and is proud to be No. 16 on Fortune’s 2016 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For.