HOK, Kwame, Parsons jockey for stimulus work - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Kevin Ferguson, vice president of St. Louis-basedx , said his company stands to gain from the stimulus plan as transportation departments look tohire owners’ representatives to managed an influx of new construction “In a lot of they’ll bring in outside consultants,” Ferguso said. Kwame fluctuates between 30 and 50 employeess and will be bidding on projects relatinyto transportation, energy, health care, education and aviation. Fergusonn said Kwame anticipates hiringproject managers, inspectors, construction managers and engineersw as it takes on work tied to the stimulua plan.
“About a third of my time right now is devote d strictly to stimulus research and what ourstrategg is,” Ferguson said. Nevertheless, he thinkxs the impact to local constructionbcompanies won’t be felt for severall months. “The lists of projectxs are there,” he said. “The biggest challenge now is for each stat to determine what theirpriorities are.” Mike vice president at and leader of the engineering firm’d St. Louis office, hopez infrastructure work prompted by the stimulus bill will allowe his office to take on a locap focusonce again.
Wild said the firm has been importint work from other regions intothe 75-employee officwe to keep his staff busy. “We’ve been in a fairly slow marketplacrin St. Louis in the last couplre years,” Wild said. “We are looking forward to some project s coming in from the county and the To help its clients and employees nationwide understand the stimulus package and the opportunities it PB has set up aWeb www.pbstimulus.com, to disseminate information abou t the bill. The company also hosted online seminarss in the past couple of weekas to provide information aboutthe stimulus, and more such eventa are planned. Rebecca Nolan, the new managing principap of ’s St.
Louis office, said the firm has spentt the last six weekz responding to requests for proposals and requesyt for qualifications from clients looking for stimulus particularly inhigher education, justicwe and aviation projects. Nolan said the firm standx to benefit from clients seeking architecturapl expertise insustainable design. “Clients are askinf us to initiate conceptual designs so they are as readuy as possible to engage the construction industry when they getthe funding,” she A difference Nolan has seen in recenty weeks is a demand for an acceleration of the schematic desig process.
“We were asked to do a schematidc design in 10 days that normallgy wouldtake 10-12 weeks,” she