American Repertory Theater at Harvard University/Image courtesy of Haworth Tompkins
Shawmut Design and Construction is seeking to more than double its business as it pursues projects in the expanding data center and mass timber sectors.
The strategy would expand annual billings from $2.3 billion to $5 billion at the Boston-based construction manager, which currently has 1,500 employees.
“Our aggressive growth plan positions us for resilience and a stable backlog in any market as we deepen our roots and expertise in existing sectors and project types while expanding into new ones,” CEO Les Hiscoe said in a statement.
After working on 17 projects at Walmart’s new headquarters, Shawmut is seeking to expand its presence in mass timber construction, which reduces embodied carbon in building materials.
The company installed more than 1 million square feet of mass timber in four office buildings at Walmart’s newly-completed home office in Bentonville, Arkansas. In all, Shawmut completed 17 projects totaling 2.3 million square feet on the 350-acre campus, including the AC Hotel Bentonville by Marriott and a welcome center.
Closer to home, Shawmut is installing more than 2,000 mass timber components at the new American Repertory Theater at Harvard University. The 86,500 square-foot project at 175 North Harvard St. in Allston includes more than 2,000 mass timber components, including 15 mega trusses that measure 70-by-10 feet and weigh 15 tons.
The hiring of Joel Nickel as the firm’s new head of mission critical gives Shawmut an experienced executive in data center construction, having worked on 19 previous projects in the center.
The company also added Kathleen Abbott in November as its first chief revenue officer, following a 23-year tenure at international design and engineering consultancy Arcadis.
Shawmut began targeting business in larger and more complex projects in 2021, doubling revenues from under $1 billion to over $2 billion in under three years.
The company is also opening a new office in San Diego, its first permanent home in a metro with a large life science cluster, where it has been active since 2003.
