ENR Mountain States, working in concert with other regional ENR publications and editors across the U.S., has selected its Design Firms of the Year for 2017.

This year, they are Electrical Consultants Inc., Billings, Mont., for the Intermountain area; and Davis Partnership Architects, Denver, for Colorado and Wyoming. Design Firms of the Year are chosen by a vote of the regional ENR editors from a carefully selected group of finalists.

Electrical Consultants Inc. (ECI)

ECI, ranked second on this year’s Intermountain Top Design list with 2016 revenue of $39.8 million, does utility-scale, power-sector engineering. The firm designs large, multi-faceted EPC projects and single-distribution line or substation expansion projects throughout the Mountain States. 

Some of ECI’s recent projects across the region include:

• Peak View Wind – Colorado. 60 MW wind-generation facility with a 115 kV to 34.5 kV substation and an associated 9.2 mile 115 kV transmission line.  ECI provided full scale electrical and civil engineering for the substation, collection system and associated transmission line. 
• Red Hills Solar – Utah. ECI provided electrical and civil engineering design for a 138 kV to 34.5 kV, 5-bay substation including an 85 MVA transformer and associated solar collection system. 
• Sigurd to Red Butte 345 kV Transmission Line Project – Utah. Located in Southwest Utah, the line traverses five counties interconnecting the Sigurd and the Red Butte Substations and includes 172 miles of heavy steel H-frame construction.
• Greenfield Wind – Montana. ECI provided electrical and civil engineering design for a 69 kV to 34.5 kV substation including a 30 MVA transformer with one 34.5 kV feeder and collection system in support of a 25 MW wind-generation facility in Montana.
•  East Fork to Burris 69 kV Transmission Line Project – Wyoming. ECI provided the design for approximately 14 miles of 69 kV transmission line (to 115 kV standards) extending west from Burris Substation to the East Fork of the Wind River in Riverton, Wyo.

Davis Partnership Architects (DPA)

The Denver-based design firm is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year but actually traces its architectural legacy back to 1892. DPA ranked 7th on this year’s Top Colorado/Wyoming Top Design Firms list, with self-reported 2016 revenue of $29.6 million.

The architecture, landscape architecture, planning and interior design firm with a staff of 150 people, offers clients a diverse range of design services that include health care, higher education, commercial, civic, cultural, land planning, mixed-use projects.

Notable projects include the Frederic C. Hamilton Building at the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, the Daniel L. Ritchie Center for Sports and Wellness at the University of Denver, the Wolf Law School and the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, the Saint Joseph Hospital SCL Health System Project, multiple buildings at National Jewish Health, the Solaris Residences and mixed-use development in Vail, the Mile High United Way Morgridge Center for Community Change, The Art Hotel and the recently completed headquarters for The Colorado Health Foundation.

A profile story on each of the firms will appear in the June issue of ENR Mountain States. Congratulations to this year’s winners.