Thornton Tomasetti, the industry’s third-largest engineering/architectural firm, has joined forces with Weidlinger Associates through a merger whose goals include cultivating a broadly based global practice that focuses on innovation, research, and development.
The combined company remains based in New York, and will operate under the name Thornton Tomasetti. However, the Weidlinger brand is sticking with three of the combined company’s 10 practices—applied sciences, protective design, and transportation—to leverage that brand’s already established recognition among customers.
While the terms of the merger were not disclosed, the Wall Street Journal reports that this transaction will be completed through an exchange of stock.
Jim Kent, a company spokesman, tells BD+C that all of Weidlinger’s senior-level management team are staying on, including Ray Daddazio, Weidlinger’s CEO, who will serve as Co-president of Thornton Tomasetti with Robert DeScenza until the end of 2016, at which point DeScenza plans to retire. Two of Weidlinger’s board members will join Thornton Thomasetti’s board of directors.
Thornton Tomasetti and Weidlinger already have experience developing products and services for the industry. These include PZFlex, an ultrasound product for the medical field that emerged from a seismic shock simulation product Weidlinger had developed for the federal government in the 1990s.
“Combining our firms [creates] significantly greater potential for growth and innovation than either firm could achieve alone,” says Thomas Scarangello, Thornton Tomasetti’s Chairman and CEO. “Our more-diverse merged expertise allows us to address a wider range of client needs, while offering enhanced breadth and depth of services and extended geographic reach.”
A key component of this merger will be the formation of an R&D holding company to develop innovative products and services for the company, as well as for other firms. Weidlinger also has strong connections as a government contractor in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
The combined company has 1,200 employees working in offices in 34 cities. (There had been relatively little competitive overlap between the two firms before this deal.) The Journal, quoting company officials, reports that the company is projected to generate about $240 million in revenue this year.
When asked about the timing of this merger, Daddazio tells BD+C that he and Scarangello, who have known each other for years, had dinner during the Construction Industry Roundtable conference in Florida last October. Scarangello told Daddazio about his company’s plans for the next five and 20 years, “and a lot of those goals resonated with me, especially when one of the first things he said was ‘we bet the farm on innovation.’ This is what Weidlinger has been about, with applied sciences and pushing the envelope.”
Weidlinger, he says, had previously spoken with several other firms about the possibility of mergers, but combining with Thornton Tomasetti had the potential for being a good fit, especially after a dinner meeting attended by the senior leaders of both companies last January, which Daddazio says went well enough to lead to more in-depth discussions.
Thornton Tomasetti and Weidlinger already have experience developing products and services for the industry. These include PZFlex, an ultrasound product for the medical field that, Daddazio explains, emerged from a seismic shock simulation product Weidlinger had developed for the federal government in the 1990s. “That product represents a couple million dollars in licensing revenue, and could be exponentially larger, now that we have a bigger platform to exploit.”
The same is true of tuned mass dampers that Thornton Tomasetti has developed with NASA, which are also being applied to reducing movements in skyscrapers.
Daddazio, who has been with Weidlinger since 1979, and was its President and CEO since January 1996, holds a doctorate from Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In his new role at Thornton Tomasetti, Daddazio expects his immediate focus will be to make sure the integration—which both companies’ boards and shareholders approved unanimously—goes as smoothly as possible.
“We’re really excited about this, and making it work,” says Daddazio.
Related Stories
| Nov 11, 2010
USGBC certifies more than 1 billion square feet of commercial space
This month, the total footprint of commercial projects certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System surpassed one billion square feet. Another six billion square feet of projects are registered and currently working toward LEED certification around the world. Since 2000, more than 36,000 commercial projects and 38,000 single-family homes have participated in LEED.
| Nov 10, 2010
$700 million plan to restore the National Mall
The National Mall—known as America’s front yard—is being targeted for a massive rehab and restoration that could cost as much as $700 million (it’s estimated that the Mall has $400 million in deferred maintenance alone). A few of the proposed projects: refurbishing the Grant Memorial, replacing the Capitol Reflecting Pool with a smaller pool or fountain, reconstructing the Constitution Gardens lake and constructing a multipurpose visitor center, and replacing the Sylvan Theater near the Washington Monument with a new multipurpose facility.
| Nov 9, 2010
Just how green is that college campus?
The College Sustainability Report Card 2011 evaluated colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada with the 300 largest endowments—plus 22 others that asked to be included in the GreenReportCard.org study—on nine categories, including climate change, energy use, green building, and investment priorities. More than half (56%) earned a B or better, but 6% got a D. Can you guess which is the greenest of these: UC San Diego, Dickinson College, University of Calgary, and Dartmouth? Hint: The Red Devil has turned green.
| Nov 9, 2010
12 incredible objects being made with 3D printers today
BD+C has reported on how 3D printers are attracting the attention of AEC firms. Now you can see how other creative types are utilizing this fascinating printing technology. Among the printed items: King Tut’s remains, designer shoes, and the world’s smallest Rubik’s Cube.
| Nov 9, 2010
U.S. Army steps up requirements for greening building
Cool roofs, solar water heating, and advanced metering are among energy-efficiency elements that will have to be used in new permanent Army buildings in the U.S. and abroad starting in FY 2013. Designs for new construction and major renovations will incorporate sustainable design and development principles contained in ASHRAE 189.1.
| Nov 9, 2010
Designing a library? Don’t focus on books
How do you design a library when print books are no longer its core business? Turn them into massive study halls. That’s what designers did at the University of Amsterdam, where they transformed the existing 27,000-sf library into a study center—without any visible books. About 2,000 students visit the facility daily and encounter workspaces instead of stacks.
| Nov 9, 2010
Turner Construction report: Green buildings still on the agenda
Green buildings continue to be on the agenda for real estate owners, developers, and corporate owner-occupants, according to the Turner 2010 Green Building Market Barometer. Key findings: Almost 90% of respondents said it was extremely or very likely they would incorporate energy-efficiency improvements in their new construction or renovation project, and 60% expected to incorporate improvements to water efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and green materials.
| Nov 5, 2010
New Millennium’s Gary Heasley on BIM, LEED, and the nonresidential market
Gary Heasley, president of New Millennium Building Systems, Fort Wayne, Ind., and EVP of its parent company, Steel Dynamics, Inc., tells BD+C’s Robert Cassidy about the Steel Joist Manufacturer’s westward expansion, its push to create BIM tools for its products, LEED, and the outlook for the nonresidential construction market.
| Nov 3, 2010
First of three green labs opens at Iowa State University
Designed by ZGF Architects, in association with OPN Architects, the Biorenewable Research Laboratory on the Ames campus of Iowa State University is the first of three projects completed as part of the school’s Biorenewables Complex. The 71,800-sf LEED Gold project is one of three wings that will make up the 210,000-sf complex.
| Nov 3, 2010
Park’s green education center a lesson in sustainability
The new Cantigny Outdoor Education Center, located within the 500-acre Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Ill., earned LEED Silver. Designed by DLA Architects, the 3,100-sf multipurpose center will serve patrons of the park’s golf courses, museums, and display garden, one of the largest such gardens in the Midwest.
