GBA Forms Buildings Group Design Studios to Better Serve Clients

Lenexa, Kan. (January 3, 2008) – George Butler Associates, Inc. (GBA), a leading engineering and architectural firm with headquarters here and offices in Kansas City, St. Louis, and O’Fallon, MO, and Lisle, IL, has announced the formation of industry-specific Design Studios within the company’s Buildings Group. These specialized design groups, which were formed to better serve clients in their specialized markets, include:

•Life Sciences, which focuses on healthcare and includes pharmaceutical, biotech, and laboratory facilities

•Critical Facilities, which focuses on critical, zero-downtime environments such as telecommunications facilities and data centers

•Transit + Fleet Works, which provides design services for public- and private- sector fleet maintenance facilities, municipal services complexes, freight transportation facilities, and intermodal facilities

•Studio Four, which focuses on corporate office, mixed-use development, and land planning

“As projects have become more sophisticated and our clients’ needs more complex, it has become increasingly important that we know these clients and their industries as well as they do,” said GBA Senior Vice President and Principal Dan Abitz, P.E. “We recognize this and have worked hard to become an informed and integrated part of our clients’ teams.”

The formation of the Design Studios will enable GBA to add structure to this effort. “Our Design Studios are the result of a strategic planning process that enabled us to consider the nature of the clients we were already serving and to identify areas of business that we see as having the greatest potential for ongoing and mutually rewarding relationships,” explained Abitz. “We asked ourselves where we provided, and could provide, value beyond that typically provided by other A/E or E/A firms. The process helped us focus on specific industries and project types.” Abitz added that GBA will not abandon its many successful long-term relationships with clients that don’t ‘fit’ into one of the four studios. “We wouldn’t consider abandoning our relationships with these important legacy clients and will dedicate the appropriate staff to meet and exceed their expectations,” he said.

The Design Studio concept involves physical as well as philosophical changes at GBA. With the new concept, architects, engineers, and technicians dedicated to a particular studio now sit side-by-side where they can immerse themselves in the focus of that studio. “By physically changing our layout and bringing members of our design studios together, we’ve created an exciting synergy that will benefit our clients,” said Abitz. “Within these studios, team members speak the same language and share in decisions that have important implications for the success of each project. They’re no longer just working on ‘their part’ of a project.”

“We are excited about the potential for our Design Studios and the value they can bring to the clients we serve. Our goal, as we build these studios, is to live up to GBA’s Core Purpose, which is ‘to create remarkable solutions for a higher quality of life.’ This means designing facilities that make a difference in the way people work, live, and enjoy life.”

George Butler Associates, Inc., which was founded in 1969, is a full-service engineering and architectural firm with a staff of 240.

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