Continued growth across the United States and Canada

Engineering News Record's Top 500 Design Firms survey reports GHD's ranking in the top 94th percentile. The latest listing, published in late April, ranks businesses by annual revenue for 2021 and is divided into specific market categories.

GHD earned the following rankings:

• #27 overall
• #10 in hazardous waste  
• #11 in water  
• #13 in sewer/waste 
• #13 in designers in international markets 
• #16 amongst pure designers 

"The rankings reflect our growth in the region, which is built on delivering increasingly complex projects that require sophisticated solutions and creative and collaborative approaches with our clients. Our commitment to clients and growth will continue with our stated vision and determination to make water, energy and communities sustainable for future generations."

 

As global communities continue to emerge from COVID, GHD sees market growth in the Americas driven by investments in resiliency to mitigate the impacts of climate change, decarbonizing energy usage, environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives and infrastructure. The combination of these investments makes this an exceptional time for rethinking planning, design and delivery in the water, energy, environmental and transportation sectors.

In the US, industry dynamics are being driven by the emergence of new energy resources, water scarcity in some parts of the country and aging infrastructure. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act represents $550 billion in new funding for the nation’s public infrastructure, including significant investments in hydrogen for power and water and wastewater infrastructure, some of GHD’s strongest markets in the US.

Climate change has led agencies and companies to look at water and power more holistically which results in the advancement of resilient solutions in an evolving ESG-driven environment. For example, our partnership with PG&E to provide engineering and support services to its ground-breaking Hydrogen to Infinity project in Lodi, CA is one of our latest undertakings in the design and delivery of landmark hydrogen projects as part of our Future Energy initiative. Additionally, integrating digital innovations into water utility systems continues to gain traction in the industry. The use of machine learning software and real-time water quality monitoring in water treatment and desalination systems is expanding rapidly, allowing agencies to do more with less and make timely critical decisions to ensure a safe and reliable water supply for the communities they serve.

In Canada, resiliency and enforcing strict environmental standards are a major focus of the $35 billion Canadian Infrastructure Bank, which seeks to invest in and contract public-private partnerships and Alternative Delivery solutions. Canada’s commitment to the circular economy and future energy solutions aligns with GHD’s sustainable infrastructure focus and is evidenced by our launch of No Time to Waste, a series of whitepapers discussing the potential of biogas to decarbonize natural gas networks which supports a circular energy economy and helps achieve some of the ambitious emission reduction goals set forth by global leaders at COP-26. 

According to data cited by GHD, solid waste is projected to grow 70 percent to 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050 due to population growth and natural human activity. The whitepapers outline the opportunities available to scale up the development of multi-stakeholder projects to reverse this trend, turn waste into energy and provide clean energy solutions at the local level.

Giannopoulos continued, “As engineers, scientists and architects, it is an exciting time for our industry. The ‘once-in-a-generation' investment in American and Canadian infrastructure and our collective consciousness around the health of our planet has increased. Climate change; the exponential rise of technology; heightened awareness of ESG principles, and public health, safety and security are creating opportunities for us to create lasting community benefit.”

About GHD

GHD is a leading professional services company operating in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation. Committed to a vision to make water, energy, and communities sustainable for generations to come, GHD delivers advisory, digital, engineering, architecture, environmental and construction solutions to public and private sector clients. Established in 1928 and privately owned by its people, GHD’s network of 12,000+ professionals is connected across 160 offices located on five continents.