The local operations of the engineering consultant firm Amec are consolidating as the company folds up some recent acquisitions and looks to cut costs.
Amec, part of U.K.-based Amec Plc, has leased a 45,000-square-foot space at the University Research Park in Irvine.
The new address will house 110 employees, currently spread over three locations around the county.
Financial details of the seven-year lease with Newport Beach-based Irvine Company, which owns the research park, were undisclosed.
Move
The company, which does geotechnical testing and engineering, is set to move into its new offices and labs after Thanksgiving, according to Tony Daus, group manager for Amecs’s western region.
“We’re just trying to get all of our tech people together in Orange County under a single roof,” he said.
Plan
The plan calls for shutting offices in Anaheim, Irvine and Newport Beach that were added through acquisitions.
Amec’s main office at Newport Technology Center, a cluster of research and development buildings, is in a building that was bought in 2006 by Newport Healthcare Center LLC, an arm of Newport Beach’s Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.
The building caters to medical offices.
Mactech
In May Amec’s parent company acquired Mactech, an Atlanta-based engineering and environmental services company, for $280 million.
Mactech had some 2,600 employees and 70 offices primarily on the East Coast.
In 2008 Amec Plc bought Oakland-based Geomatrix Consultants Inc. for $85 million, which brought the company some 500 engineers and scientists in 18 offices.
The buys added about 80 employees in Orange County, along with offices in Anaheim and Irvine, according to Daus.
“The last three years have seen pretty substantial growth,” he said.
Testing
The company specializes in testing building foundations and soil strength.
It also offers seismic testing that analyzes how much a structure can withstand in an earthquake.
The company runs data analysis on transportation, storm, ground and surface water, and air compliance as well.
Clients
Amec counts the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the state of California, the cities of Anaheim and Riverside, and the Army Corp of Engineers as clients.
It has a roster of private-sector customers in the aerospace, oil and gas, and real estate industries, among others.
The company sees annual revenue of about $4.5 billion and employs 27,000 people in about 40 countries.
