Top Design Firms Named

The Engineering News-Record has listed its prestigious international list of the ?EUR??,,????'??Top 500 Design Firms.?EUR??,,????'??

A quick, but not exhaustive, look at the first 50 firms on the design list reveals a few familiar names: HNTB Corp., Kansas City, Mo. (21st); Carter & Burgess, Inc., Ft. Worth, Texas (29th); Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabuaum, St. Louis, Mo. (31st); Burns & McDonnell, Kansas City, Mo. (34th); and Dewberry, Fairfax, Va. (49th) 31st).

Making the list, whether in the top 50 or the top 500 is an honor. We can?EUR??,,????'???t mention every firm on the list, of course, but we will mention Belt Collins, who alerted us to the new listing. Belt Collins, a planning, engineering, landscape architecture and environmental consulting firm founded in Honolulu in 1953, placed 121 on the list. Belt Collins was one of only two Hawaii-based firms named to the list.

?EUR??,,????'??We are honored to have been ranked in this?EUR??,,????'?? said Anne Mapes, president of the Belt Collins Hawaii division, ?EUR??,,????'??especially since this is the first time we?EUR??,,????'???ve submitted our information.?EUR??,,????'??

Belt Collins added landscape architecture to its services in 1960. The firm also has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines, Guam, and Washington state; more than half of its work is done internationally. In 2002, Belt Collins had $12.9 million in revenue outside of the United States. The firm has completed over 12,000 projects in 65 countries.

In 2000, Belt Collins received the Hawaii Governor?EUR??,,????'???s Exporter of the Year award. The design firm celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2003, and recently published a hardcover book, The Master Landscape Architect Series: Belt Collins, featuring many of its prominent projects: historic hotels and destination resorts, recreational developments, urban spaces, and residential design.