Page 42 - BusinessWest March, 21, 2022

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ARCHITECTURE FIRMS
RANKED BY THE NUMBER OF REGISTERED ARCHITECTS
KUHN RIDDLE ARCHITECTS INC.
28 Amity St., Suite 2B, Amherst, MA 01002 (413) 259-1630; www.kuhnriddle.com
JUSTER POPE FRAZIER ARCHITECTS
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OTO
Aelan Tierney Jonathan Salvon Charles Roberts
Kevin Chrobak
Margo Jones
Tom Hartman
Timothy Murphy
Commercial; educational; historical; institutional; interior design; religious; residential (single-family, multi-family, affordable, market-rate, high-end); retail; sustainable design
Residential; corporate; educational; retail; healthcare; religious; cultural
Educational; commercial; public municipal buildings (town halls, libraries, senior centers); historic preservation; religious facilities; energy-efficient buildings; residential
Serves residential and institutional clients with architecture designed for resilience and renewability
Commercial; educational; public/municipal buildings; residential; historical
ter in Springfield.
“How can I not be enthusiastic for a project I can
see out my window?” Sullivan said. “And their vision for it is just amazing for downtown. So that’s super exciting.”
Other local projects include a number of schools in Springfield, West Springfield, Gardner, and other communities, as well as work with Westmass Area Development Corp. on the ongoing Ludlow Mills redevelopment. “We’re a small piece of a lot of proj- ects. Any one of us here probably has 30 projects at any one time.”
Because Massachusetts has done a good job cleaning up its largest contaminated sites, OTO focuses more on site redevelopment, as it’s tougher these days to find untouched land to develop in Mas- sachusetts, Sullivan noted.
“We have to look at environmental implications for jobs. When we get involved early on, we can guide the design team in how to approach these projects and provide value early on.
“What we’ve been able to do more is actually couple our services,” she added. “On a redevelop- ment project, we’ve been able to offer our hazardous- materials compliance, our Massachusetts regula- tions compliance, and geotechnical engineering all in one, and we’ve been working a lot more internally cross-sector-wise. That’s sometimes harder to com- municate internally than externally, but we’ve really worked on a lot of those skills and working together in teams, and we’re able to provide clients with cross- sector services.”
In short, O’Reilly, Talbot & Okun has emerged from two pandemic-dominated years in strong shape,
but it took plenty of persistence and flexibility to get
OTO
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HILL-ENGINEERS ARCHITECTS PLANNERS INC.
50 Depot St., Dalton, MA 01226; (413) 684-0925 44 Spring St., Adams, MA 01220; (413) 0743-0013 www.hillengineers.com
82 North St., Northampton, MA 01060 (413) 586-1600; www.justerpopefrazier.com
JONES WHITSETT ARCHITECTS INC.
308 Main St., Greenfield, MA 01301 (413) 773-5551; www.joneswhitsett.com
C&H ARCHITECTS
49 SOUTH PLEASANT ST., 301, AMHERST, MA 01002 (413) 549-3616; www.candharchitects.com
TIMOTHY MURPHY ARCHITECTS
CAOLO & BIENIEK ASSOCIATES INC.
521 East St., Chicopee, MA 01020 (413) 594-2800; www.cbaarchitects.net
BURR AND MCCALLUM ARCHITECTS
720 Main St., Williamstown, MA 01267 (413) 458-2121; www.burrandmccallum.com
HAI ARCHITECTURE
64 Gothic St., Suite 1, Northampton, MA 01060 (413) 585-1512; www.haiarchitecture.com
380 High St., Holyoke, MA 01040
(413) 532-7464; www.murphyarch.com
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Kerry Dietz
Jeffrey Noble
Curtis Edgin James Hanifan Bertram Gardner
Franklin Andrus Burr Ann Kidston McCallum
Richard Katsanos Don Hafner
New construction and renovation projects for institutional, industrial, commercial, educational, civic, recreational, and residential markets
Educational; commercial; public facilities (police and fire facilities, libraries, senior centers); historic preservation; sustainable design; interior design; healthcare; housing
Residential; institutional; commercial
Healthcare; educational; commercial; planning; interior design; residential
Continued from page 41
management in schools and offices, brownfield redevelopment, indoor air-quality assessments, and geotechnical engineering, which may involve help- ing developers assess how much force and weight the ground under a proposed structure can stand, or determining the strength of an existing building’s foundation and surrounding topography.
OTO’s early-pandemic experience — also Sullivan’s trial by fire in the president’s chair — mirrored that of many in the construction and engineering world.
“There was a time initially where we all went remote and some projects definitely stopped. Con- struction already in place before the pandemic typi- cally kept going, so we had that work. Any new proj- ects tended to slow down and stop.
“Also, in-person meetings, site meetings, that all stopped,” she went on. “So we really had to adapt and ask, ‘OK, how are we going to collaborate, how are we going to communicate?’ Our work definitely did slow down for a little bit, as we figured out how all this was going to work. Then some public jobs started com- ing back, and it was a real push to keep public work going.”
Most of the firm’s services continued at some level, though anything associated with property transfers stopped for a while. “Now property transfers have started up again; a lot of work has started up again. It went from the slowdown to this crazy pickup of a lot of work.”
As a result, the project load is busier now than it was pre-COVID, Sullivan said, adding that “anything on hold has moved forward.”
OTO’s certification as a Women Business Enter- prise has also helped create new relationships and new opportunities. “We’ve been able to meet new clients, new architects, and get on more design teams
and be brought into a lot of interesting projects. So we are very busy. There is a lot of work, and we’re actually trying to grow staff-wise, which is very hard to do right now.”
That’s true across the entire industry and, indeed, all sectors. That’s why companies that want to hire need to stand out, and one of the ways they can do that is through culture.
“One of my roles is to create a place where people want to work,” she said, noting that OTO has made three technical hires over the past two years. “I’m always on the lookout. It’s not easy, particularly with being a small company and competing with some of the bigger firms.
“We have found — and this is exciting for me
— a lot of the people that we have hired have been referred to us: ‘go check out OTO; go speak with Ash- ley. That might be a good fit.’ And I try to do that for other people. When I come across somebody who does a technical service that OTO doesn’t provide, I’ll put them in contact with somebody I work with. But I think what you give off is what you get. You have to have your eyes open to opportunity and be a place where people want to work.”
Engineering Change
During the past couple years, OTO has renewed some sectors, such as industrial compliance, where some staff had retired but not been replaced. “But during this time, we looked at some professional development and said, ‘hey, maybe there’s not work in one service sector; what else can we renew?’ And we’ve been able to renew those services.”
Among the firm’s recent notable projects is the geotechnical and hazardous-materials assessment on the project that will replace the dilapidated Civic Center Parking Garage next to the MassMutual Cen-
42 MARCH 21, 2022
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
BusinessWest
COMPANY
ARCHITECTS
TOTAL EMPLOYEES
YEAR FORMED
TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE
1
20
30
1985
TYPE OF WORK PERFORMED
DIETZ & COMPANY ARCHITECTS INC.
55 Frank B. Murray St., Suite 201, Springfield, MA 01103 (413) 733-6798; www.dietzarch.com
Commercial; institutional; housing; education; healthcare; government offices; historic preservation; LEED design services; high-performance buildings; senior centers; senior housing