CH2M was founded in 1946 in Corvallis, Oregon by Oregon State University civil engineering professor Fred Merryfield and three of his students: Holly Cornell, James Howland and Thomas Burke Hayes (the firm was named after the founders, with Howland and Hayes making up the H2 portion). Cornell, Howland, and Hayes were all graduates of Oregon State University.The company became CH2M Hill name after a 1971 merger with Clair A. Hill and Associates of Redding, California. The firm remained headquartered in Oregon until 1980, when a decision was made to relocate to Colorado, a more central location in the United States.Other key acquisitions include Black, Crow & Eidsness (a southeast U.S. engineering firm) in 1977, Gore & Storrie (a Canadian water and wastewater engineering firm) in 1995,Gee & Jensen (a Florida-based Ports and Harbor firm) in 2002, DeMil International (a U.S.-based weapons destruction firm) in 2002, EHS Consultants Ltd (a Hong Kong-based consulting firm), Lockwood Greene, the oldest continuously operating professional services firm in the United States in 2003, and BBS Corporation (an Ohio-based environmental engineering firm) in 2005.On September 7, 2007, CH2M Hill finalized the purchase of most of the components of VECO, an Alaska-based firm specializing in services to the oil, gas, and energy sector that had become embroiled in the Alaska political corruption probe.In December 2007, CH2M Hill acquired Trigon EPC.In March 2008, CH2M Hill acquired Texas-based Goldston Engineering, a company specializing in marine and coastal transportation engineering services. In July 2011, CH2M Hill finalized the acquisition of Booz Allen Hamilton’s State & Local Government Transportation Consulting (S&L Transportation) business. In September 2011, CH2M Hill announced that it intended to acquire the share capital of Halcrow Group Limited, a UK-based engineering consultancy that operates worldwide.The acquisition for £124m was completed on November 10, 2011. In 2014, CH2M Hill acquired TERA Environmental Consultants of Calgary, Alberta.CH2M Hill adopted the shortened nickname CH2M on. |