Company continues to provide innovation, services in power, water and telecommunications
From its innovative power portfolio to aggressive water reuse strategies, Florida has long pioneered infrastructure innovation. Black & Veatch, which celebrates 60 years of operations in Orlando this month, is looking ahead with plans to grow hand-in-hand with the state and the southeast region of the U.S. as its energy and water needs expand.
As the company’s first regional office outside its Kansas City-area headquarters, Black & Veatch opened its Orlando operations in 1958 with four professionals; today, more than 70 professionals are working on projects across major infrastructure markets. These professionals are a key component of the company’s globally integrated workforce, and that number is expected to rise as the Orlando team provides design, procurement and construction services for power delivery, water and telecommunications projects spanning the state and southeast region.
Over the office’s 60-year history, Black & Veatch has helped many significant Florida power projects come to life. Our decades of success directly reflect the engineering talent and know-how of our professionals,” said Allen Sneath, vice president and director of business development for Black & Veatch’s power delivery business.
Projects from Orlando have spanned the critical energy, water and telecommunication markets, binding Black & Veatch to numerous important milestones in the state’s infrastructure history:
- The company provided power delivery services to the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) Robinson GIS substation and the Kissimmee Utility Authority (KUA) Hansel GIS substation. The company also installed the first commercial 230-kV underground transmission project at OUC’s Indian River Plant in the early ‘90s.
- In 2003, the company earned a Florida Institute of Consulting Engineers (FICE) award for its work on OUC’s 230-kV underground project, designed to accommodate the fourth runway expansion at Orlando International Airport (OIA), one of the largest airports in the U.S.
- Black & Veatch helped ensure Florida’s water future by bringing water and wastewater treatment facilities to fruition. This includes making upgrades to local wastewater treatment plants such as Orange County Utilities’ Northwest Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) and South WRF, the area’s largest wastewater treatment facility. The company is also involved in the City of Orlando’s Water Conserv II WRF having completed a unique biosolids treatment system converting waste sludge to fertilizer for use by local agricultural as well as improving pretreatment capabilities of the plant.
- The Orlando office provides regional telecommunications work in the greater Tampa Bay and Orlando markets for a national telecom carrier. Black and Veatch is working very closely with city, county and state permitting agencies to create a futuristic fiber optic network.
Other notable Florida projects include the design of NASA’s Central Instrumentation Center at Cape Canaveral and portions of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center, where large space vehicle components such as the Saturn V and the Space Shuttle were assembled. The company also designed the first-of-its-kind USDA Plant Inspection Facility for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) at the OIA.
The six decades have seen Orlando staff donate significantly to the local United Way Campaign. The office is also deeply involved with Ronald McDonald House charity efforts, participating in the Share-A-Meal program to assist families of ill children. Orlando professionals and their families also participate in the International Coastal Cleanup, an annual Ocean Conservancy event to remove debris from the world’s waterways.
Editor's Notes:
- The office’s 60-year history has resulted in several long-term client relationships: Orlando professionals have worked with the OUC to engineer the utility’s electric transmission system for the past 60 years and has worked continuously with the KUA since 1985.
- The company’s services have enabled hundreds of substation and transmission line projects for area utilities such as OUC, KUA, Jacksonville Electric Authority (now JEA), Tampa Electric Company, Duke Energy and predecessor companies, among others.
- Black & Veatch worked on water treatment plants for OUC (including Southwest, Sky Lake, Kirkman and Pine Hills WTPs), Orange County Utilities (including Western Regional, Eastern Regional and the new Southern Regional Water Supply Facility), Seminole County and Lakeland.
- The Black & Veatch Orlando team has extensive engineering capabilities, including civil, structural, electrical, control and power delivery. Staff also serves project controls, procurement, estimating, quality control, construction management, construction, marketing and administrative roles.
- Services include substation and transmission line work, both overhead and underground; power generation plants; water-related projects; and telecommunications projects.
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About Black & Veatch
Black & Veatch is an employee-owned, global leader in building critical human infrastructure in Energy, Water, Telecommunications and Government Services. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people in over 100 countries through consulting, engineering, construction, operations and program management. Our revenues in 2018 were US$3.5 billion. Follow us on social media.
