Marshall Macklin Monaghan acquires engineering firm

Marshall Macklin Monaghan (MMM), a full-service project management, engineering, planning and geomatics firm with a wide range of projects in both the public and private sectors in Canada and abroad, has acquired the mechanical and electrical consulting engineering firm of Rybka, Smith and Ginsler (RSG) Ltd.

Rybka, Smith and Ginsler

BY PATRICIA WILLIAMS

STAFF WRITER

“It’s a good fit,” MMM president and chief executive officer Bruce Bodden said in an interview. “They were looking to reposition their firm in the marketplace. We were looking to add capabilities and strength in our mechanical-electrical areas.”

A leader in the growing field of alternative project delivery mechanisms— such as design-buildfinance- operate — MMM currently is providing project management and design services for some of Canada’s largest projects, including the development program at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, the Toronto waterfront revitalization initiative, York Region’s rapid transit project and GO Transit’s rail expansion.

The firm, which has more than 500 employees, also provides building engineering and IT/security services for institutional buildings. It is currently involved in several major hospital projects in the province.

Founded in 1933, RSG provides services in all building sectors, including the specialized hospitality and healthcare fields. It has 120 employees in its Toronto office. Through RS&G Commissioning, it provides facility commissioning services through offices in Toronto and Ottawa.

The internationally focused firm also has an office in Florida.

MMM and RSG have worked together in the past.

Bodden, who joined MMM in 1969 after graduating from the University of Waterloo with a degree in civil engineering and has been active in consulting engineering circles during his career, said the merged practices will pave the way for expanded activity in the key healthcare sector.

“That’s a core strength of RSG,” he said.

Bodden said his firm’s partnership with Borealis Capital Corp., which recently made a “significant” investment in MMM, together with its newly expanded capacity, will allow the firm to take on increasingly larger roles on complex projects while increasing its strength in key sectoral markets and considering new geographic ones.

“While we are involved in the Osler and Royal Ottawa (hospital) projects, we are only providing structural and civil engineering services,” Bodden said.

“We are not providing mechanical-electrical services. We think that now that we are together, we have the ability to better market services in the health care area.”

A past chairman of Consulting Engineers of Ontario, Bodden believes there is “great potential” for investment over the next 10 years or so in this sector.

In a statement, RSG president Hani Motran said his firm believes it will be better able to capitalize on “an ever-increasing number of attractive project opportunities and serve the increasing and changing needs of the industry” as part of a larger, multidisciplinary international engineering organization.

“With the increased financial capabilities, local and global market strength and infrastructure, the newly merged companies will be well positioned to achieve accelerated growth, profitability and become a dominant force in the markets they serve,” he said.