Strength in numbers.

• Author: HUNEAULT, GREG
• Position: AMEC plc, AGRA Inc. - Brief Article

Merger creates world's fourth largest engineering firm

The world's largest international engineering design company says it remains committed to providing services to Northern Ontario clients as it repositions itself following its merger last year with AGRA Inc.

U.K.-based AMEC plc. was ranked No.1 in 1999 in the design category by the international trade magazine Engineering News Record. AMEC has been absorbing AGRA's orientation to engineering and design services since the two powerhouses merged in April 2000 in a deal worth $514.7 million and issues of new AMEC shares. The union will adopt the AMEC identity and create the fourth-largest global engineering firm behind Bechtel, URS and Fluor.

With offices in Thunder Bay, Timmins, Sudbury and Lively, AMEC officials say clients in Northern Ontario will have access to an enhanced service package.

Dan Sweeney, operations manager for the Sudbury branch of AMEC's mining and metals division, says the firm plans to continue serving Northern pulp and paper and mining engineering services. The former AGRA Simons Mining and Metals division had established expertise from its Sudbury office before it came under the AMEC banner.

Sweeney says the division offers civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and heavy industrial engineering design, planning, supervision and project management services for upgrades and construction of surface and underground plants and facilities.

"Since we came in under AGRA Mining and Metals, we are now able to provide resources on specific projects to clients," Sweeney says. The Lively office has been involved in projects in Montana; Peru; northwest Ontario; North West Territories and Newfoundland.

Sweeney says access to resources in Toronto, Vancouver and elsewhere means clients have a "complete range" of services. He says local engineers have also acted as resources for international projects.

The office, just west of the City of Greater Sudbury, has grown rapidly since it was established two-and-a-half years ago. Sweeney expects the number of professional and support staff, operating from the same building as Sandvik Tamrock Canada Inc. in the Walden Industrial Park, to increase to 30 this year.

AMEC's earth and environmental division has an office based in the City of Greater Sudbury, which provides geotechnical services to mining, forestry and...