After a long period of anemic performance, with growth mostly driven by renovations and additions, the K-12 sector is showing renewed interest in new construction. Consultant Paul Abramson, using data from Dun & Bradstreet, calculates that districts spent about $13.4 billion on construction projects in 2013, about $7.6 billion of which went for new schools (http://bit.ly/1kN4qkv).
Highest-spending regions included Texas-Louisiana-Oklahoma-Arkansas ($2.3 billion, or 17% of the nation’s K-12 total) and Arizona-California-Hawaii-Nevada ($1.68 billion). The lowest-spending regions included debt-plagued Illinois with neighboring states Minnesota and Wisconsin ($651 million) and Alaska-Idaho-Oregon-Washington ($558 million).
High schools are outpacing other K-12 facilities in construction spending, with the dollar value of projected 2014 starts at $4.15 billion, or 44% of the K-12 total. That’s followed by 33% for elementary schools, 23% for middle schools, and <1% for administrative and support projects.
Among the evident design trends: STEM morphing into STEAM with the addition of arts enrichment (sometimes with professional-quality performance spaces) to science, technology, engineering, and math schools; growing enthusiasm for vocational training facilities that provide an alternative to the traditional college prep path; and schools that do a better job of cementing community connections by leveraging local architectural themes.
The push for sustainable K-12 facilities also marches on; at high levels of green, the theme typically suffuses the pedagogy. Hood River (Ore.) Middle School’s Music and Science Building was recently certified net-zero energy by the International Living Future Institute, making it the first public school building to earn the tough-to-achieve designation.
Top K-12 School Sector Architecture Firms
| Rank | Company | 2013 K-12 Revenue |
| 1 | DLR Group | $41,000,000 |
| 2 | SHW Group | 40,016,000 |
| 3 | PBK | 35,880,000 |
| 4 | HMC Architects | 26,097,082 |
| 5 | Fanning/Howey Associates | 17,877,000 |
| 6 | Perkins+will | 16,668,514 |
| 7 | Heery International | 14,994,535 |
| 8 | NAC|Architecture | 14,494,206 |
| 9 | LPA | 14,191,442 |
| 10 | Perkins Eastman | 13,950,000 |
| 11 | Quattrocchi Kwok Architects | 13,230,000 |
| 12 | Moseley Architects | 12,521,613 |
| 13 | Integrus Architecture | 12,229,858 |
| 14 | Corgan | 10,372,178 |
| 15 | FGM Architects | 9,846,977 |
| 16 | NTD Architecture | 9,200,000 |
| 17 | Parkhill, Smith & Cooper | 8,580,000 |
| 18 | Symmes Maini & McKee Associates | 8,375,000 |
| 19 | Stantec | 8,097,800 |
| 20 | SchenkelShultz Architecture | 7,880,000 |
| 21 | SEI Design Group | 7,566,000 |
| 22 | Slaterpaull Architects | 7,500,468 |
| 23 | DLA Architects | 7,255,830 |
| 24 | GWWO | 7,047,216 |
| 25 | BRPH | 6,681,000 |
| 26 | Legat Architects | 6,630,200 |
| 27 | Wight & Company | 6,579,000 |
| 28 | Ashley McGraw Architects | 6,093,874 |
| 29 | HMFH Architects | 6,032,607 |
| 30 | BBS Architects | 5,950,250 |
| 31 | BLDD Architects | 5,750,000 |
| 32 | LaBella Associates | 5,644,772 |
| 33 | LS3P | 5,155,547 |
| 34 | Eppstein Uhen Architects | 4,623,477 |
| 35 | H+L Architecture | 4,070,997 |
| 36 | EwingCole | 4,020,000 |
| 37 | FXFOWLE Architects | 3,940,000 |
| 38 | Harley Ellis Devereaux | 3,780,000 |
| 39 | Cooper Carry | 3,402,330 |
| 40 | Goodwyn Mills & Cawood | 3,399,167 |
| 41 | CTA Architects Engineers | 3,336,600 |
| 42 | HKS | 3,142,143 |
| 43 | Cuningham Group Architecture | 3,052,272 |
| 44 | Schrader Group Architecture | 3,047,414 |
| 45 | NORR | 2,976,836 |
| 46 | Hord Coplan Macht | 2,948,595 |
| 47 | Ratio Architects | 2,879,009 |
| 48 | Albert Kahn Associates | 2,775,253 |
| 49 | IBI Group ? Gruzen Samton | 2,500,000 |
| 50 | RS&H | 2,450,000 |
| 51 | Harvard Jolly Architecture | 2,097,387 |
| 52 | Shepley Bulfinch | 2,000,000 |
| 53 | Becker Morgan Group | 1,945,649 |
| 54 | Leo A Daly | 1,787,681 |
| 55 | Good Fulton & Farrell | 1,704,900 |
| 56 | KZF Design | 1,490,333 |
| 57 | Clark Nexsen | 1,441,748 |
| 58 | Little | 1,410,229 |
| 59 | LMN Architects | 1,223,400 |
| 60 | Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates | 1,213,567 |
| 61 | Environetics | 1,137,965 |
| 62 | Massa Montalto Architects | 1,056,000 |
| 63 | VOA Associates | 989,711 |
| 64 | Mithun | 930,000 |
| 65 | Gensler | 700,000 |
| 66 | WHR Architects | 699,316 |
| 67 | PGAL | 672,000 |
| 68 | Ennead Architects | 585,055 |
| 69 | Davis Brody Bond | 570,932 |
| 70 | DesignGroup | 538,710 |
| 71 | OZ Architecture | 487,900 |
| 72 | Kirksey | 466,989 |
| 73 | HNTB Corp. | 444,786 |
| 74 | Beyer Blinder Belle | 405,394 |
| 75 | CO Architects | 386,900 |
| 76 | RSP Architects | 377,000 |
| 77 | LawKingdon Architecture | 350,000 |
| 78 | Ziegler Cooper | 348,762 |
| 79 | Morris Architects | 335,000 |
| 80 | Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio | 320,000 |
| 81 | Cambridge Seven Associates | 305,000 |
| 82 | Ware Malcomb | 284,000 |
| 83 | Hoffmann Architects | 260,000 |
| 84 | CASCO Diversified Corp. | 250,000 |
| 85 | JRS Architect | 235,000 |
| 86 | Rosser International | 230,000 |
| 87 | Page | 229,000 |
| 88 | Nelson | 210,577 |
| 89 | Gresham, Smith and Partners | 200,000 |
| 90 | Hastings+Chivetta Architects | 169,568 |
| 91 | Nadel | 130,000 |
| 92 | Epstein | 108,000 |
| 93 | BSA LifeStructures | 106,426 |
| 94 | ATA Beilharz Architects | 104,525 |
| 95 | Niles Bolton Associates | 104,386 |
| 96 | Hensley Lamkin Rachel | 100,000 |
| 97 | GBBN Architects | 97,000 |
| 98 | Sherlock, Smith & Adams | 92,000 |
| 99 | Lord Aeck Sargent | 75,379 |
| 100 | Poskanzer Skott | 50,000 |
| 101 | TEG Architects | 11,928 |
Top K-12 School Sector Engineering Firms
| Rank | Company | 2013 K-12 Revenue |
| 1 | AECOM Technology Corp. | $50,930,000 |
| 2 | URS Corp. | 47,642,239 |
| 3 | Jacobs | 35,150,000 |
| 4 | Parsons Brinckerhoff | 20,057,993 |
| 5 | TTG | 12,352,642 |
| 6 | STV | 8,018,000 |
| 7 | Shive-Hattery | 5,975,671 |
| 8 | KCI Technologies | 4,800,000 |
| 9 | Dewberry | 4,340,398 |
| 10 | Joseph R. Loring & Associates | 4,300,000 |
| 11 | Heapy Engineering | 4,079,921 |
| 12 | Thornton Tomasetti | 3,617,144 |
| 13 | Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates | 3,380,000 |
| 14 | Allen & Shariff | 3,000,000 |
| 15 | Interface Engineering | 2,934,922 |
| 16 | KJWW Engineering Consultants | 2,878,919 |
| 17 | Paulus, Sokolowski and Sartor | 2,800,000 |
| 18 | Brinjac Engineering | 2,677,720 |
| 19 | Simpson Gumpertz & Heger | 2,610,000 |
| 20 | M/E Engineering | 2,531,610 |
| 21 | Primera Engineers | 2,357,000 |
| 22 | French & Parrello Associates | 2,297,300 |
| 23 | Coffman Engineers | 2,147,260 |
| 24 | Henderson Engineers | 2,103,903 |
| 25 | Bridgers & Paxton Consulting Engineers | 2,024,344 |
| 26 | RDK Engineers | 1,880,000 |
| 27 | Wallace Engineering | 1,691,000 |
| 28 | KPFF Consulting Engineers | 1,625,000 |
| 29 | H.F. Lenz | 1,619,250 |
| 30 | Highland Associates | 1,600,000 |
| 31 | KLH Engineers | 1,384,045 |
| 32 | Glumac | 1,306,149 |
| 33 | AKF Group | 1,299,000 |
| 34 | Rist-Frost-Shumway Engineering | 1,000,000 |
| 35 | Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber | 1,000,000 |
| 36 | CJL Engineering | 994,410 |
| 37 | TLC Engineering for Architecture | 967,161 |
| 38 | M-E Engineers | 966,000 |
| 39 | Walter P Moore and Associates | 937,062 |
| 40 | Vanderweil Engineers | 808,300 |
| 41 | Karpinski Engineering | 720,037 |
| 42 | Sparling | 682,833 |
| 43 | Martin/Martin | 674,166 |
| 44 | SSOE Group | 664,516 |
| 45 | RMF Engineering | 650,000 |
| 46 | Aon Fire Protection Engineering Corp. | 540,000 |
| 47 | Newcomb & Boyd | 534,136 |
| 48 | Environmental Systems Design | 521,731 |
| 49 | Guernsey | 502,819 |
| 50 | I. C. Thomasson Associates | 500,000 |
| 51 | G&W Engineering Corp. | 484,000 |
| 52 | Wick Fisher White | 446,553 |
| 53 | Arup | 431,084 |
| 54 | CTLGroup | 400,000 |
| 55 | OLA Consulting Engineers | 308,400 |
| 56 | Kamm Consulting | 286,426 |
| 57 | DeSimone Consulting Engineers | 262,015 |
| 58 | GRW | 189,200 |
| 59 | Zak Companies | 178,364 |
| 60 | Dunham Associates | 150,000 |
| 61 | Mazzetti | 149,031 |
| 62 | Davis, Bowen & Friedel | 132,028 |
| 63 | Affiliated Engineers | 112,000 |
| 64 | Spectrum Engineers | 93,110 |
| 65 | Magnusson Klemencic Associates | 76,069 |
Top K-12 School Sector Construction Firms
| Rank | Company | 2013 K-12 Revenue |
| 1 | Gilbane | $480,230,252 |
| 2 | Turner Construction | 419,619,000 |
| 3 | Balfour Beatty US | 372,288,885 |
| 4 | CORE Construction Group | 278,177,865 |
| 5 | Skanska USA | 212,802,648 |
| 6 | Swinerton Builders | 182,000,000 |
| 7 | Kraus-Anderson Construction | 181,000,000 |
| 8 | JE Dunn Construction | 167,798,654 |
| 9 | Consigli Construction | 151,997,147 |
| 10 | Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., The | 146,933,150 |
| 11 | Adolfson & Peterson Construction | 142,957,713 |
| 12 | Barton Malow | 142,524,833 |
| 13 | McCarthy Holdings | 140,400,000 |
| 14 | PCL Construction | 122,996,983 |
| 15 | Tutor Perini Corp. | 120,049,254 |
| 16 | McShane Companies, The | 118,124,887 |
| 17 | Flintco | 110,350,000 |
| 18 | KBE Building Corp. | 89,239,714 |
| 19 | Bernards | 85,000,000 |
| 20 | Sundt Construction | 69,522,647 |
| 21 | Absher Construction | 67,476,142 |
| 22 | LeChase Construction Services | 65,600,000 |
| 23 | Walsh Group, The | 62,965,887 |
| 24 | Wight & Company | 61,092,000 |
| 25 | Lend Lease | 59,255,000 |
| 26 | Haselden Construction | 55,166,396 |
| 27 | LPCiminelli | 54,810,831 |
| 28 | Shawmut Design and Construction | 51,000,000 |
| 29 | Ryan Companies US | 48,316,285 |
| 30 | URS Corp. | 47,642,239 |
| 31 | Yates Companies, The | 42,800,000 |
| 32 | Pepper Construction | 35,760,000 |
| 33 | C.W. Driver | 35,595,000 |
| 34 | E.W. Howell | 33,818,000 |
| 35 | Coakley & Williams Construction | 32,267,167 |
| 36 | Brasfield & Gorrie | 30,364,402 |
| 37 | Choate Construction | 30,237,395 |
| 38 | Bette Companies, The | 29,375,000 |
| 39 | S. M. Wilson & Co. | 25,725,568 |
| 40 | Suffolk Construction | 25,620,266 |
| 41 | EMJ Corp. | 24,000,000 |
| 42 | Parsons Brinckerhoff | 20,057,993 |
| 43 | Manhattan Construction | 19,124,000 |
| 44 | New South Construction | 17,650,000 |
| 45 | Hill & Wilkinson | 17,026,000 |
| 46 | Kitchell Corp. | 16,545,918 |
| 47 | Heery International | 14,994,535 |
| 48 | HITT Contracting | 14,900,000 |
| 49 | Robins & Morton | 13,176,447 |
| 50 | W. M. Jordan Company | 12,735,471 |
| 51 | Messer Construction | 12,453,591 |
| 52 | Structure Tone | 12,081,000 |
| 53 | Hill International | 12,000,000 |
| 54 | Boldt Company, The | 11,978,048 |
| 55 | Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction | 11,690,000 |
| 56 | James G. Davis Construction | 10,187,161 |
| 57 | Stalco Construction | 10,040,000 |
| 58 | STV | 8,018,000 |
| 59 | Hunt Construction Group | 7,000,000 |
| 60 | O'Neil Industries/W.E. O'Neil | 5,825,412 |
| 61 | Weis Builders | 3,389,000 |
| 62 | Beck Group, The | 3,117,539 |
| 63 | Allen & Shariff | 3,000,000 |
| 64 | Linbeck Group | 2,590,000 |
| 65 | Batson-Cook | 1,810,861 |
| 66 | Hoar Construction | 1,769,000 |
| 67 | Clark Group | 1,731,296 |
| 68 | James McHugh Construction | 1,460,905 |
| 69 | Weitz Company, The | 1,434,533 |
| 70 | IMC Construction | 1,433,690 |
| 71 | Astorino | 743,040 |
| 72 | JLL | 242,655 |
Read BD+C's full 2014 Giants 300 Report
Related Stories
| May 18, 2011
Carnegie Hall vaults into the 21st century with a $200 million renovation
Historic Carnegie Hall in New York City is in the midst of a major $200 million renovation that will bring the building up to contemporary standards, increase educational and backstage space, and target LEED Silver.
| May 17, 2011
Redesigning, redefining the grocery shopping experience
The traditional 40,000- to 60,000-sf grocery store is disappearing and much of the change is happening in the city. Urban infill sites and mixed-use projects offer grocers a rare opportunity to repackage themselves into smaller, more efficient, and more convenient retail outlets. And the AEC community will have a hand in developing how these facilities will look and operate.
| May 17, 2011
Architecture billings index fell in April, hurt by tight financing for projects
The architecture billings index, a leading indicator of U.S. construction activity, fell in April, hurt by tight financing for projects. The architecture billings index fell 2.9 points last month to 47.6, a level that indicates declining demand for architecture services, according to the American Institute of Architects.
| May 17, 2011
Sustainability tops the syllabus at net-zero energy school in Texas
Texas-based firm Corgan designed the 152,200-sf Lady Bird Johnson Middle School in Irving, Texas, with the goal of creating the largest net-zero educational facility in the nation, and the first in the state. The facility is expected to use 50% less energy than a standard school.
| May 17, 2011
Gilbane partners with Steel Orca on ultra-green data center
Gilbane, along with Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, has been selected to partner with Steel Orca to design and build a 300,000-sf data center in Bucks County, Pa., that will be powered entirely through renewable energy sources--gas, solar, fuel cells, wind and geo-thermal. Completion is scheduled for 2013.
| May 17, 2011
Should Washington, D.C., allow taller buildings?
Suggestions are being made that Washington revise its restrictions on building heights. Architect Roger Lewis, who raised the topic in the Washington Post a few weeks ago, argues for a modest relaxation of the height limits, and thinks that concerns about ruining the city’s aesthetics are unfounded.
| May 17, 2011
The New Orleans master plan
At an afternoon panel during last week's AIA National Conference in New Orleans, Goody Clancy Principal David Dixon and Manning Principal W. Raymond Manning shared their experiences creating the New Orleans Master Plan, a document that sets a new course for the city, from land use and transportation planning to environmental protection.
| May 17, 2011
Do these buildings look like buffalo to you?
It’s hard to contemplate winter now that we’re mid-spring, but when the seasons change, ice skaters in Winnipeg will be able to keep warm in plywood shelters designed by Patkau Architects. The designers created temporary shelters inspired by animal behavior—specifically, buffalo bracing against the wind. Check them out.
| May 16, 2011
USGBC and AIA unveil report for greening K-12 schools
The U.S. Green Building Council and the American Institute of Architects unveiled "Local Leaders in Sustainability: A Special Report from Sundance," which outlines a five-point national action plan that mayors and local leaders can use as a framework to develop and implement green schools initiatives.
