Mainebiz

V O L . X X I V N O. I X A P R I L 3 0 , 2 0 1 8 8 B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S N E W S F RO M A RO U N D T H E S TAT E summer concerts. Concerns about Gray's involvement center on his guilty plea last fall to a domestic violence assault charge — which was detailed in a blog post by the victim, his former girlfriend, who also spoke at an April 18 council meeting. N O T E W O R T H Y S O U T H E R N Stroudwater Associates, a national health care consulting fi rm in Portland, completed conversion to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan at the end of 2017 in order to position the fi rm to in- vest more aggressively in helping clients and communities across the country. Gabrielle Garofalo, who along with Stefanie Manning owned and produced Harvest on the Harbor, Portland's annual food and drink event, sold her share to Jim and Gillian Britt, owners of gBritt PR and co-founders of Maine Restaurant Week. Yarmouth Boat Yard announced its product offerings now include addi- tional Seaway Boats, 11 models of hand-built Downeast-style vessels with classic lines, commercial heritage and modern composite construction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded $569,170 to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to assist with the conserva- tion of the Woodward Point wetlands in Brunswick in a partnership with the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. G&F Septic Service Inc. in East Waterboro merged with A1 Environmental Services in Wells. The companies are best known for septic system services to commercial and residential customers. Ali Al Mshakheel and Mahmoud Hassan launched Maine Language Connect, a Portland company that offers interpretation and translation services in the fi ve most requested New Woodard & Curran division will focus on design-build contracting B y M a i n e b i z S t a f f P o r t l a n d — Woodard & Curran, a Portland-based engi- neering fi rm specializing in water and environmental projects, has launched a business unit focused on delivering success- ful projects through design-build contracting. The Woodard & Curran Constructors division will be led by John Kitchin, who sits on the board of directors of the Southeast Region of the Design-Build Institute of America and is an instructor in the School of Building Construction at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Its staff of design-build and construction experts has experience in taking an integrated design-build approach to deliver infrastructure and environ- mental projects for clients in all sectors of the economy. Woodard & Curran, an integrated engineering, science, and operations company serving public and private cli- ents locally and nationwide, ranked 74th in Engineering News-Records 2017 list of the Top 500 design fi rms nation- ally, moving up from 80th in 2016. It's seen signifi cant growth since 2015, when it reported revenues of $167 million, 850 employees in 16 offi ces and over 45 plant locations nationwide, due in part to the 2016 acquisition of California-based environmental engineering company RMC Water & Environment. Current revenue stands at $200 million and the company now has 1,000 employees, 29 offi ces and more than 45 plant locations. CEO Doug McKeown, who was Mainebiz's 2015 Business Leader of the Year in the large company category, said the new division is a natural extension of what he described as the fi rm's "core value proposition." "We have helped clients address infrastructure needs and environmental challenges for more than 35 years, and in that time it has become clear that design-build contract- ing models offer signifi cant benefi ts in many situations," he said. "It has also become clear that we offer a set of bundled skills from planning through design, construction and operations that can magnify those benefi ts for our clients." Kitchin said Woodard & Curran Constructors' focused design-build capability and expertise will create synergies for Woodard & Curran's clients. "One of the major benefi ts of design-build project delivery is that it creates a unifi ed team of design and construc- tion professionals," he said. "This is even more true at Woodard & Curran, where the designers work alongside the construction professionals in the same offi ces, which fosters a truly seamless integration. Collaboration and integration aren't goals for us, they are central to the way we work. Our construction experts have input into every phase of design, which leads to better designs and cost savings throughout construction." He said the company's fully integrated approach is par- ticularly benefi cial for water infrastructure projects. "Because we also have hundreds of certifi ed treatment system operators on staff, we integrate long-term operability and maintenance concerns into every one of our designs," he said. "These systems are hugely important investments for the communities and organizations building them, so we make sure that they will n ot only get the most cost-effi cient construction possible, but that the ongoing operation and maintenance is as effi cient as possible too." B R I E F languages in Maine: Somali, Arabic, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Sterling Rope Co. Inc. in Biddeford launched two products: the FDNY Search Kit, for large area search, and the Roof Rescue Kit, a roof-top system to rescue people stranded at windows below. Both kits are designed to help fi refi ghters perform search-and-rescue operations in high- hazard environments. Colby receives $2.5M gift for Maine student scholarships A former corporate attorney for Scott Paper Co. and S.D. Warren donated $2.5 million to Colby College to sup- port fi nancial aid for students from Maine. Steve Ford, a Gardiner native who graduated from Colby in 1968, said the donation was spurred by his own experience. Ford now lives in Glen Mills, Pa., and is a seasonal resident of Gardiner. "Colby helped me fi nancially so I was able to attend," Ford said in a Colby news release. "It was important to me that the col- lege invested in me, so I want to give back." e donation from Ford and his wife, Mary, brings to $3.5 million the amount he's donated to the school over the years. Ford is also a member of the Colby Alumni Council Executive Committee, president of his class and its 50th reunion chairman. His father, William Ford, and son, Bill Ford, are also Colby graduates. Auburn retirement community plans $12M expansion e Schooner Estates retirement com- munity in Auburn will begin develop- ment of a $12 million, 47,606-square- foot facility this summer. e Sun Journal reported the site will specialize in memory care and assisted living while the current operations will shift to assisted living for residents with fewer needs, John Orestis, the owner of Schooner with his wife, Barbra Crowley, told the newspaper. Schooner Estates has 103 full-time-equivalent employees. Orestis anticipates hir- ing an additional 25. Construction is expected to start in July, with comple- tion in the fall of 2019. Schooner Estates opened in 1988 with assisted living studio apartments and residen- tial care options. F I L E P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY CEO Doug McKeown said Woodard & Curran's new design-build division will be a natural extension of the engineering fi rm's "core value proposition." C E N T R A L & W E S T E R N

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