Engineering and environmental firm S&ME expands via assets purchase of BBCM

Raleigh, NC— S&ME, Inc. has taken its first steps in expanding beyond its traditional Southeastern footprint by acquiring Ohio-based BBC&M Engineering, Inc.

The deal, effective October 3, results from S&ME’s purchase of the assets of BBCM.

About 75 former BBCM employees joined S&ME, increasing the company’s employment to nearly 1,100. This staff will work from 27 offices in North Carolina, Ohio, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Though concentrated heavily in the Southeast, S&ME has completed projects throughout much of the U.S. and in the Caribbean. The addition of BBCM is a continuation of S&ME’s strategic growth plan.

Announcement of the acquisition was made in Raleigh by S&ME President Randy Neuhaus, PE. “Clients will benefit through enhanced services, as well as, access to a deeper pool of expert talent to help them solve project challenges,” Neuhaus said. “We’re excited to bring on BBCM’s expertise in geodesign services and experience with mine reclamation and earthen structures including dams, landfills and upground reservoirs.”

Since 1957 BBCM, a civil engineering firm specializing in geotechnical engineering, geodesign, environmental, materials testing and construction observation, has provided services to clients throughout the Midwest.

S&ME was founded in Raleigh in 1973. Its major service lines include geotechnical engineering; construction materials engineering and testing; environmental services, occupational health and safety; water resources and solid waste engineering; and natural and cultural resources.

Market segments served include energy, transportation, industrial, federal, state and municipal government, solid waste, ports and terminals, healthcare, education, and petroleum retailing.

Contact: Randy Neuhaus, President / CEO
(919) 872-2660
email Randy Neuhaus

New York—Leapfrogging 13 places in the rankings, S&ME, Inc., moved up to number 154 nationally on ENR’s 2011 Top 200 Environmental Firms List.

The annual listing is based on gross revenues of the firm’s reporting.  Though records are not complete, this is likely the highest ranking S&ME has achieved on the Top 200 Environmental list.  The listing shows S&ME gross revenue in environmental services at $35.7 million and reports that figure as 32% of the firm’s entire revenue for the previous year.

This ranking among the nation’s top environmental firms comes on the heels of the company’s ranking of 97^th among ENR’s 2011 Top 500 Design Firms list, which was released in April.  That ranking was 41 places higher than in 2010.

ENR (Engineering News-Record) Magazine is a construction, building and engineering magazine published by McGraw-Hill, headquartered in Rockefeller Center, New York City.

Officials from South Carolina Electric & Gas and the Saluda Shoals Park held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, July 27, 2011 to open a new display at the Saluda Shoals Environmental Education Center in Columbia. The center will show off archaeological artifacts found by S&ME’s Columbia office, on the river’s bank in recent years.

More than 37,000 artifacts have been found at a site near an abandoned tree house along the Saluda. Some tools found there are said to be among the oldest found in the U.S. and dating back 13,000 years.

SCE&G Saluda Shoals Exhibit Video

The project managed by Bill Green, Cultural Resources Manager and Principal Archeologist for the Columbia branch, involved data recovery excavations for client South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G).

The excavations supported SCE&G’s relicensing of its Saluda Hydroelectric Project and dealt with mitigating effects of erosion on a part of the site located on private property. Green called the project a unique opportunity to investigate one of the state’s most important archeological sites containing thousands of artifacts dating from 13,500 to 700 years ago.

“Our excavations were among the largest, most comprehensive and deepest undertaken in the state,” Green said. The investigation required meticulous organization and problem-solving as many staff and specialists joined their skills to face multiple challenges, including a tropical storm that flooded excavations.

One challenge was to maintain superior standards of archaeological excavation and recording techniques, while complying with OSHA safety requirements. S&ME engineers and archaeologists jointly designed a plan allowing excavators to safely perform highly scientific investigations following both archaeological and engineering standards to complete one of South Carolina’s most complex archaeological projects.

Awards Won:
2011 NHA Outstanding Stewards of America’s Waterways Award

2010 Engineering Excellence Award judged tops in the Studies, Research and Consulting Engineering Services category in South Carolina.

S&ME gained an Honors Award as lead engineer for Bristol Motor Speedway for natural resource permitting and stream mitigation design at the race track in Bristol.  S&ME performed stream morphological and habitat assessments, prepared a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, gained a “no-rise” certification, coordinated with regulatory agencies, and designed 2,900 feet of onsite stream enhancement that integrated stormwater management components.

The project reach of Beaver Creek at the Speedway had several exposed sewer line crossings and severely eroded banks. In-stream structures and a cellular confinement retaining wall were used to improve the stream within the limited construction corridor that accommodated existing Speedway infrastructure. The goal of the restoration was to stabilize the banks and address the geomorphologic imbalances to encourage a self-sustaining system, in contrast to the self-degrading system previously in place. The vegetated swales were designed so that they would not have to be managed differently than the surrounding area, making them easier to maintain over time. They also allowed the Speedway to continue using the grassed areas for parking during high-attendance events.

S&ME has given our client excellent, comprehensive assistance to meet its regulatory requirements and improve Beaver Creek, while fully supporting its strong sensitivity to ecological values and onsite operations. This project, providing socioeconomic benefits and overcoming sustainability challenges, is a long-term benefit to the community and to the Speedway.

Project Description

S&ME worked with client PDC Consultants to overcome difficult problems in permitting and stream location at the site of the new Cleveland, Tennessee Municipal Airport.  The team gained a Tennessee Department of Environmental and Conversation Individual Construction Stormwater Permit, one of the first in Tennessee requiring monitoring of Stormwater discharges.

S&ME performed natural resource permitting and mitigation design, including a half-mile of stream relocation for Little Chatata Creek that integrated with the site plan and met Federal Aviation Administration requirements.  S&ME also conceived a stormwater monitoring approach using automated in-stream monitors for turbidity and stage, allowing the permit’s required continuous monitoring with minimal personnel intervention.

S&ME was lead engineer for all natural-resource permitting and design for stream and wetland mitigation.  Our natural-resource services included a biological assessment, natural-resource evaluation, permitting of stream and wetland impacts. The creek had been impacted by past agricultural practices including cattle intrusion. S&ME also provided and executed a plan to continuously monitor construction stormwater leaving the site, as well as the instream monitoring stations in the creek. The project shows how unique requirements, such as limitations on tree height and wildlife attraction, can be incorporated into stream realignment while still returning adequate ecological uplift for regulatory approval.

Project Description

Through a subcontract with PDC Consultants, S&ME was responsible for stream and wetland permitting and mitigation design for the new municipal airport in Cleveland, Tennessee.  S&ME provided natural resource services including a biological assessment, natural resource evaluation, Rosgen survey, No-Rise Certification, permitting of stream and wetland impacts, and design of a half-mile of stream relocation for Little Chatata Creek that integrated with the site plan and met Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations.

Extensive regulatory coordination has been performed with multiple agencies, including the three lead permitting agencies, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and the Tennessee Valley Authority.  The project has also involved S&ME as the technical lead for the public meeting held by the permitting agency as part of the permitting public notice process.  The stream relocation plan utilized natural channel design techniques modified to address FAA design standards for water resources and vegetative canopy.  Extensive modeling of the proposed stream relocation was performed by S&ME using USACE Hydrologic Engineering Center – River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) to calculate flood elevations in the planned stream corridor and demonstrate a no-rise condition.  The modeling included a new 700 ft. long box culvert that allows the new runway to cross the realigned stream.

S&ME also provided and executed a plan to continuously monitor construction stormwater.  An Individual Construction Stormwater Permit issued by TDEC is one of the first in Tennessee requiring monitoring of stormwater discharges.  S&ME devised an innovative approach using automated in-stream monitors for turbidity and stage (converted to discharge using a rating curve) that allowed the permit’s required continuous monitoring with minimal personnel intervention.

Our client has expressed satisfaction and appreciation for our efforts in overcoming challenges to meet and exceed the project’s rigid needs and schedule.  We worked closely with the client’s and owner’s representatives to complete tasks on schedule and within budget.

S&ME was lead engineer for Bristol Motor Speedway (Speedway) for natural resource permitting and stream restoration design and implementation at the Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee.  S&ME provided natural resource services including a stream morphological and habitat assessment, a “no-rise” certification, Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) preparation, coordination with regulatory agencies, and design of 3,200 feet of onsite stream enhancement that integrated stormwater management components.

S&ME worked to enhance and restore stream hydraulic and habitat functions along an existing stream corridor, in a highly developed urban setting with adjacent infrastructure encroaching on the channel.

S&ME’s design of the Beaver Creek in-stream structures:

• stabilized adjacent banks
• hid sewer crossings from view
• protected crossings from debris
• improved the pool habitat within the stream channel

Where feasible, S&ME maintained existing mature trees to preserve aesthetics of the stream, reduce the effect of thermal pollution on the stream following construction, and reduce the cost of replanting.  Our establishment of vegetative swales and the inlet retrofit provide pretreatment of stormwater runoff, improving water quality.

The Speedway was grateful for the technical solutions we brought to bear on the project.  We worked closely with the owner to complete tasks on schedule and within budget.  Our client has expressed satisfaction and appreciation for S&ME’s achievements in overcoming challenges to meet and exceed the project’s rigid needs and schedule.  Speedway Vice President of Operations & Development Scott Hatcher said, “BMS is well pleased with the project.  The aesthetics and overall appearance have been enhanced with the structures in the stream as well as bank stabilization.  We had a lot of positive comments during our August race”.

Visit Meg Lashley and others from S&ME at Tampa’s International Summit & Exhibition on Health Facility Planning, Design & Construction (PDC)

March 13-17, 2011 Tampa FL

More information about ASHE PDC

S&ME Project Role

The power industry is challenged in managing coal combustion byproducts such as coal ash.  Traditionally, many power plants transport and manage coal ash by mixing it with water and sluicing it to ash basins.  Consistent with industry trends, Duke Energy (Duke) was transitioning from the ash basin approach to dry fly ash management at the Allen Steam Station in Belmont, North Carolina and needed a new landfill before start up of a new dry fly ash handling system.

Duke considered three locations for the landfill, two on-site and one off-site.  Major siting considerations included environmental impacts, engineering feasibility, economics, and community/regulatory acceptance.  The ideal location was a brownfield site adjacent to the steam station on a 65-acre ash basin retired in the 1970s.  However, this site posed numerous technical and regulatory challenges because the retired ash basin contained upwards of fifty feet of soft, wet, compressible sluiced ash.  The project was further challenged by intensified regulatory scrutiny imposed after the December 2008 failure of a Tennessee ash basin.

Duke awarded S&ME, Inc. (S&ME) a groundbreaking project to permit, design, and provide construction services for the new landfill over the retired ash basin.  S&ME permitting and design responsibilities included:

• • Conducting geologic/geotechnical site characterizations
• • Preparing a Site Study
• • Gaining a letter of Site Suitability from the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR)
• • Completing engineering design for the overall facility plan (landfill master plan)
• • Developing a detailed design for the first five-year development phase
• • Gaining the Permit to Construct.

Duke retained S&ME throughout project construction to prepare bid documents, solicit bids, and monitor, test, and document construction.  S&ME prepared construction documentation submittals to NCDENR gaining the facility’s Permit to Operate.

Other Consultants Role in the Project

S&ME subcontracted Perigon Engineering to provide electrical engineering design services and Pacific Engineering and Analysis to conduct site-specific, probabilistic seismic site response analyses.

Original and Innovative Application of New or Existing Techniques

Developing a new ash landfill over the retired ash basin posed numerous engineering and permitting challenges.  The retired ash basin covered approximately 65-acres and consisted of sluiced ash that was wet, compressible, and up to 50 feet thick.  The retired ash basin was bound by engineered earthen dikes and the site conditions were further complicated because it was located adjacent to the Catawba River.  This project illustrates innovative design in the engineering solutions developed to overcome the obstacles posed by the site.

One innovative solution was the settlement analysis.  North Carolina solid waste rules have strict requirements for post-settlement liner system slopes and vertical separation from groundwater.  Ordinarily, settlement is evaluated at a few locations of interest within the landfill.  S&ME developed a geographic information system (GIS) based settlement model that allowed us to evaluate settlement across the whole landfill footprint and optimize landfill grading design. S&ME combined classic geotechnical settlement formulas with detailed three-dimensional surfaces of the proposed landfill cover, liner, and subsurface stratigraphy using GIS to evaluate settlement on a one-foot grid spacing.  With the power of GIS software, we developed detailed surfaces showing post-settlement contours, slopes, and liner system separation from groundwater.

Settlement analysis results indicated settlement up to several feet.  To validate the settlement model and to better understand the settlement from overlying landfill construction, S&ME proposed an innovative, full-scale instrumented test fill program.  We designed a three-acre, twenty-foot tall test fill with redundant instrumentation to monitor settlement and groundwater response to loading.  Results revealed significant insight into the loading response indicating that: actual settlement was less than calculated; settlement occurred immediately and stopped after loading; and initial groundwater level increase dissipated shortly after loading.

S&ME’s ground-breaking settlement evaluation approach went far in alleviating regulatory concerns about developing over such challenging site conditions.

The project became the focus of greatly intensified scrutiny after the December 2008 failure of a Tennessee coal ash pond.  In response, S&ME conducted slope stability analyses and liquefaction potential evaluations to a level of detail far beyond that ordinarily required.  S&ME used site-specific, probabilistic, seismic site response analysis results for both seismic-slope stability analysis and to evaluate liquefaction potential.  Results indicated the proposed development would be stable and satisfied regulatory design criteria. Our approach was successful at gaining the approval of the NCDENR Dam Safety Section, which was retained by the Solid Waste Section to provide slope stability expertise.

In addition to the site’s challenging physical characteristics, the project posed regulatory challenges because such a facility had never been permitted in North Carolina and there was regulatory uncertainty related to developing and monitoring the new landfill separate from the underlying ash basin.  We overcame these regulatory challenges in part by designing a double-liner system allowing landfill monitoring separate from the underlying ash basin.  Double-liner systems are uncommon in ordinary landfill containment systems and provide a leak-detection zone to monitor leaking through the primary liner.

The double-liner system design required estimating a threshold action leakage rate to trigger regulatory response.  S&ME developed a two-step response action plan based on detailed engineering design analysis to calculate a threshold initial response leakage rate and a higher action leakage rate.  S&ME engaged regulators early and frequently during project design and we were able to negotiate an agreeable double liner system design approach and response action plan before design submittal.

Future Value to Engineering Profession

Our successful permitting, design, and construction of the new landfill over an existing ash basin established a significant North Carolina and Duke precedent. This design, consisting of a double-liner system located entirely over a brownfield site (retired ash basin) is a “first of its kind” in North Carolina and for Duke.  This project blazed a regulatory trail by successfully setting the permitting framework for similar developments.  This project blazed a technical trail by transferring ordinary and established design methods in a new and multifaceted way (GIS settlement model, full-scale test fill program, beyond-the-ordinary stability analyses, and novel double liner system design approach).

In fact, this project’s value to the engineering profession has been realized already since S&ME has successfully permitted and designed a second similar facility for Duke.  Furthermore, this project brings high value to the engineering profession because there is an increased need and responsibility to effectively manage coal ash in light of the December 2008 Tennessee ash pond failure and resulting proposed regulatory changes advocating dry ash disposal in landfills.

Social/Economic and Sustainable Design Considerations

This project represents a significant achievement in sustainable design because S&ME successfully redeveloped a 65-acre ash basin that was retired in the 1970s.  By overcoming major engineering and permitting obstacles, S&ME helped Duke re-use this site located very near the steam station and waste source.

Even the next best alternatives would have posed negative environmental, community, and economic impacts because they would have required developing greenfield sites, closer to neighbors, with increased development and operating costs due to the distance from the steam station and waste source.  Furthermore, the new landfill provides a significant collateral benefit as the landfill liner system provides a cover system for the underlying ash basin, effectively isolating it from the environment.

Complexity

This project was extraordinarily complex from an engineering design and regulatory permitting perspective.  S&ME successfully navigated the design complexities by demonstrating a high level of technical innovation.  The site conditions were extraordinarily complex due to the retired ash basin under the proposed ash landfill.  S&ME’s rigorous GIS-based settlement model demonstrated without a doubt that the liner system could accommodate anticipated settlements.  Results of S&ME’s innovative full-scale test fill program validated settlement models and further demonstrated estimated liner system performance.  S&ME conducted detailed slope stability analyses and liquefaction potential evaluations withstanding intense scrutiny and demonstrating design criteria were satisfied.  Design and construction of the double-liner system added further project complexities.

S&ME successfully navigated regulatory complexities by actively engaging regulators throughout the permitting, design, and construction process.  We met with NCDENR regulatory personnel regularly to communicate our plans, goals, and schedule; to identify and confirm regulatory issues and concerns; and to address and resolve them.  Through this interaction we successfully addressed regulatory requirements and design considerations before completing permitting and design submittals thereby streamlining agency review and approval.

Exceeding Owner/Client Needs

S&ME exceeded Duke’s needs by developing original and innovative design approaches, setting a valuable precedent with this first of its kind development, providing high value in sustainable design, and overcoming extraordinary complexities to deliver this project on time.  The S&ME design withstood intense regulatory scrutiny as S&ME personnel presented engineering design and analyses to regulatory agencies, laying the groundwork for agency review and approval.

S&ME worked with Duke to focus the construction efforts on the first of two landfill cells, completing the first cell and gaining the Permit to Operate just as the new dry fly ash handling system came on line.  Duke valued S&ME’s leadership and technical insight on the project.  In fact, S&ME has permitted and designed a similar project at another Duke facility.