Europe and Middle East
History
URS Corporation’s oldest predecessor company was founded in 1904. URS was established in 1951, and incorporated in 1957 as Broadview Research—a research group active in the area of physical and engineering sciences. In 1967, management developed a growth strategy focused on building a multidisciplinary professional services firm. In 1968, Broadview Research acquired United Research Incorporated of Cambridge, Massachusetts. During this period, the name Broadview Research was changed to United Research Services and later shortened to URS.Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, URS continued to expand through internal growth and strategic acquisitions that enhanced our engineering, architectural, and environmental practices. These acquisitions included Madigan-Praeger; Coverdale and Colpitts; John A. Blume and Associates; Hill Dreman Chase; and Dalton, Dalton and Newport.
In 1996, URS further expanded with the acquisition of Greiner Engineering, which broadened our presence in the transportation market. In 1997, Woodward-Clyde Group joined URS, bringing additional environmental capabilities and a broader international presence to the organization. When Dames & Moore Group joined the Company in 1999, it further expanded our geographic base, strengthened our programme and construction management expertise, added to our FORTUNE 500 client base and expanded our presence in the mass transit market.
In 2002, the acquisition of EG&G Technical Services, a provider of management and technical support services to U.S. government agencies—the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security in particular—placed URS in the ranks of the leading U.S. federal services contractors. The 2007 acquisition of Washington Group International enhanced URS’ ability to provide integrated engineering and construction services throughout the project life cycle—from planning, design and engineering through construction to operations and maintenance, and decommissioning and closure. The acquisition also expanded our capabilities and ability to compete in the power and nuclear management markets, as well as in the transportation, mining, defense, and industrial infrastructure and process markets.
Headquartered in San Francisco, URS operates in more than 30 countries with approximately 42,000 employees. The Company provides a range of planning, engineering and architectural design, environmental, construction, programme and construction management, systems integration, operations and maintenance, and management services. We also provide a wide range of specialised technical services to federal, state and local governmental agencies, as well as private clients in the chemical, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, automotive, forest products, mining, power, oil and gas, consumer products, and food and beverage industries. URS is publicly owned and listed on the New York Stock Exchange as URS.