Hatch Mott MacDonald to Move Headquarters Here

By Jay Hipps, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Engineering and Construction Management Firm to Make Home in Park

Hatch Mott MacDonald, an engineering and construction management firm, is moving its corporate headquarters to 12,000 square feet of office space at the Hacienda West project, at the northeast corner of Hopyard Road and West Las Positas Boulevard.

The firm provides design and construction management services for large scale transportation projects involving tunneling, rail transit, airports, highways, and bridges.

"The move is essentially due to the additional growth that we have had," says J. Craig Velasquez, director of finance for the firm. "When we started in August of 1996, we only had about 50 people in the U.S. and about 75 in our Canadian sister company. Now we are up to about 200 people in the U.S. and about 80 in Canada."

Velasquez expects the firm will eventually add another 15 staff people once they move into the new space. Occupancy is currently expected in February.

The company is the offspring of two other firms: England's Mott MacDonald and Canada's Hatch, who between them have approximately 8,500 employees world wide.

Hatch Mott MacDonald has offices throughout the U.S. and Canada and is involved with projects in both countries.

For example, the firm has received awards for its work as a sub-consultant on Boston's Central Artery project, which was "a reconfiguration of how the roads, railroads, and subway go downtown," says Velasquez.

The firm has been active in the Bay Area as well.

"By far the biggest group of projects we're dealing with locally is in Santa Clara County, where we've either done the design or construction management for all of the light rail down there," he notes.

Hatch Mott MacDonald has also done a great deal of work with BART, including the redesign of their maintenance and train storage facilities.

The firm is involved in a number of other high-profile projects in North America. The group served as part of a team of construction managers for the recently opened North Hollywood line of the Los Angeles subway.

Another project is the building of a new terminal and re-design of Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto, currently in the third of an estimated ten years of work.

There are more airport projects in Hatch Mott MacDonald's future.

"A major new project that we just won is a role as a major sub-consultant working on the redesign of the people mover at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC," adds Velasquez.

With their stellar record, there are sure to be many more in the offing.

Photo: Among the firm's projects has been the development of Santa Clara County's light rail system.

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