Weekly Briefing: August 15, 2025
- Socially Adept Solutions
- Aug 15
- 4 min read
Week of August 11, 2025
Upcoming Surface Transportation Legislation Underscores New Funding Priorities and Strategies
Congress is drafting the new surface transportation reauthorization bill to set long-term funding and priorities for highway and infrastructure projects, with one year remaining before the current authorization expires.
Multiple parties, such as construction industry groups, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and lawmakers, are aligned in their support for formula funding over discretionary grant programs to increase efficiency in getting funds to the states. Discretionary grants are viewed as useful for large and complex projects of federal interest and significance.
Lawmakers and construction groups are also pushing for permitting reform by expanding the number of states assuming responsibility for reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, assigning federal agency staff to state DOT offices, limiting environmental review time frames, and expanding project exclusions from environmental assessment.
A key consideration will be funding, as the Highway Trust Fund is expected to reach insolvency by 2028 and construction groups advocate for increased funding. Proposals include electric and hybrid vehicle registration fees and increasing the federal gas tax.
Construction Backlog Rises as Contractors’ Confidence Falls
According to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) survey, the construction backlog rose to 8.8 months in July, a 0.4-month increase from July 2024.
Construction spending fell for the sixth time in seven months, likely due to more than 80% of ABC members reporting notices of higher prices from suppliers as a result of trade policy and rising material costs.
Contractor confidence has declined, with fewer than 2% of ABC members expecting project margins to improve significantly over the next six months, reaching a new low since October 2024.
The backlog increase, despite these industry uncertainties, may be supported by public construction outpacing private work and the growth in data center projects, with one in every eight ABC members currently working on a data center project.
August 4, 2025
Egis, a France-based global design firm, backed by Tikehau Capital, has merged with Lochner, an Illinois-based transportation infrastructure planning and engineering services firm. The merger will expand Egis’ presence in the American market. “The Lochner merger is a major milestone in meeting Egis’ goal of expanding our footprint in the U.S.,” said Laurent Germain, CEO of Egis. “Lochner’s proven leadership, trusted brand, and growth trajectory make it the ideal partner to accelerate our geographic strategy.”
August 7, 2025
Atwell, a Michigan-based full-service consulting, engineering, and construction services firm, has acquired a majority stake in Centurion Power (Centurion), a Washington-based provider of third-party electrical acceptance testing, inspection, certification, and commissioning. The strategic move will reinforce Atwell’s electrical testing capabilities and contribute to its growth across the U.S. “The added talent and experience that the team at Centurion brings to Atwell will support our continued growth in the power and energy industry,” commented Dan McNulty, COO of Atwell. “We are excited to have them join our team to offer our clients coordinated, best-in-industry electrical testing solutions.”
August 12, 2025
Providus Capital Partners (Providus), a Michigan-based private equity firm, has partnered with Wold Architects & Engineers (Wold), a Minnesota-based architecture and engineering firm serving the education, government, and healthcare markets. This partnership will support Wold’s 350-member team across four states by bolstering its growth strategy across markets and capabilities. "Providus is the ideal partner for Wold as we embark on our next phase of growth," stated Vaughn Dierks, CEO of Wold. "Their proven success in collaborating with management teams and building highly successful, people-first businesses made this an easy decision for us.”
August 12, 2025
J.S. Held, a New York-based global consulting firm, backed by Kelso & Company, has acquired GHL Consultants (GHL), a Canada-based fire engineering and building code services firm. The acquisition will bring 1,500 experts in financial, strategic, and technical fields to GHL’s clients. Andrew Harmsworth, Founding Principal of GHL, noted, “Joining J.S. Held provides an enhanced platform to continue our growth trajectory. We look forward to working with J.S. Held’s global team of forensic architects, engineers, fire investigators, chemists, materials scientists, and building code experts.”
August 13, 2025
Ramboll Group (Ramboll), a Denmark-based global design firm, has acquired TransGrid Solutions, a Canada-based power systems consultancy. The acquisition will strengthen Ramboll’s presence in North America by supporting its initiatives in grid resiliency and the global transition to green energy. Hannes Reuter, Managing Director of Ramboll’s Energy division, stated, “This acquisition strengthens our power systems expertise, positions us as a world leader in HVDC engineering, and supports our growth ambitions in North America and Europe.”
This year, Pinchin celebrated the feat of collecting over 5,900 pounds of waste by gathering employees from 29 offices across Canada towards a collective goal. Wearing gloves and red T-shirts branded “Team Clean UP,” volunteers used grabbers and garbage bags to clean up their communities. Pinchin’s initiative to give up some time and clean their communities has been ongoing for years and this year was no different.
The EFCG Weekly Briefing summarizes the week’s key news in the AEC industry, including M&A updates, and micro- and macro-trends, aggregated from industry-focused and global news sources.
To send any additional press releases or news from your firm that you would like us to share please email Clay Han at chan@efcg.com.