Arctic Oil & Gas Directory: CH2M HILL striving to perform above client expectations and industry standards

For 100 percent employee-owned company, this is not the exception, it’s the rule

Q. What does the name CH2M HILL mean?

A. CH2M HILL was founded in Corvallis, Oregon in 1946, by Holly Cornell, James Howland, T. Burke Hayes, and Fred Merryfield. The first letters of their last names formed the “CH2M.”

After a merger with Clair A. Hill and Associates in 1971, “Hill” was added to create the current name. The founders shared values based on a strong foundation of not only doing things right, but doing the right thing –by our clients and our employees.

Q. What services does CH2M HILL offer?

A. CH2M HILL offers consulting, engineering, procurement, logistics, fabrication, construction, construction management, operations and maintenance services all under one roof, supporting your entire project life cycle. From consultants developing your project concepts to turning the wrench in the field, CH2M HILL supports oil & gas, mining, environmental, water, power, transportation, government and other energy projects worldwide. In Alaska, CH2M HILL is doing major work in locations including the North Slope, Nikaitchuq, and Kenai. We are also providing operations and maintenance for oil and gas clients in Sakhalin Island, Russia; logistics support for a NASA flight center in Alabama; program management for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics games; program management for the expansion of the Panama Canal; we are involved in major gas and oil field developments in the Middle East; we are working on water and wastewater projects on a number of continents, among other work.

Q. Who owns CH2M HILL?

A. CH2M HILL, comprised of nearly 30,000 total professional staff, craft, and support personnel, is 100% employee owned. When you deal with an employee-owned firm, you get the best of both worlds: the entrepreneurial spirit and personal attention of a small company combined with the long-term stability, experts, and technologies of a large corporation. Our ownership program and entrepreneurial culture attract high-caliber people who take a personal stake in their work. We are personally and professionally motivated to outperform for our customers.

Q. What steps does the company take to ensure a safe work environment?

A. CH2M HILL is committed to a world-class health, safety, security, environment, and quality program where every employee takes responsibility to achieve zero incidents. The first item on each new employee’s orientation agenda is a discussion about safety with a senior manager. Every meeting starts with a safety moment, all employees engage in robust safety training, and a continuous improvement program ensures employees are focused on performing safely at work and at home.

Q. What offices, equipment and resources do you have in Alaska?

A. CH2M HILL’s Alaska Region headquarters is located in Anchorage, accommodating our consultants, engineers, designers, project procurement, and other support staff. We also have offices in Fairbanks, Kenai and a major presence on the North Slope. We provide the largest and best maintained fleet on the North Slope with more than 2,000 pieces of equipment including a multitude of cranes ranging from five to 30 tons, forklifts, light plants, generators, vacuum trucks and other heavy construction equipment. With our locations in Anchorage, Kenai and Deadhorse, we have more than 125 acres of pad space, more than 80,000 square feet of shop space, and capability to produce more than 10,000 tons per year of truckable modules up to 120 tons and 40,000 tons per year of sealift modules with our largest being greater than 3,700 tons. With more than 1,000 truckable and sealift modules fabricated, CH2M HILL is a leader in design-build modules for the arctic environment.

A. Our engineers pioneered the idea that major truckable and sealift module construction undertaken in Alaska can compete in cost and quality with traditional modules constructed far from Alaska’s oil fields. In 2001, we successfully completed the largest modules ever to be constructed in the State of Alaska for BPXA‘s Northstar field development project in the Beaufort Sea. The modules were built at the Port of Anchorage, ushering in a new era of major module construction within the state. To date, we have constructed more than 500 drillsite truckable modules for the North Slope including production manifolds, test separators, metering units, launchers, receivers, generators, and electrical & instrumentation modules.

We also perform much of the construction and installation of process and non-process facilities on the North Slope. In fact, we just completed the largest installation contract tendered in Alaska in more than 10 years. With both onshore and offshore components, the performance-based contract for more than 25 modules and pipe rack assemblies were completed on schedule during the winter in one of the world’s harshest work environments.

Q. What is CH2M HILL’s commitment to Alaska?

A. CH2M HILL, one of the largest employers in the state of Alaska, has been continuously operating and serving clients for more than 40 years. We have more than 2,900 Alaskan employees and more than $300 million invested in facilities, equipment, and infrastructure in our Alaska operations. We are committed to Alaska for the long haul –more than 80 percent of our Alaska operations employees are residents who are actively involved in the communities where they live.

CH2M HILL has a long and successful record of training and developing Alaskans for industry positions. Our continuous renewal efforts include our High School Drafting Program, college interns, apprenticeship, and Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP) support. As many as 36 interns have worked with us in engineering, construction, operations, management and support service positions in a single year.

CH2M HILL was recognized by the Alaska State Department of Labor as the 2009 Employer of the Year for our Southwest Electrical Apprenticeship Training Program for our welding training and hire of Alaska high school graduates. Our King Salmon Training Center continues to train next generation of Alaskans for operation and maintenance projects.

Our people take personal stake in their work and meaningful investments in professional development. In a unique partnership with the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) and the Project Management Institute (PMI), we certified 34 of our project delivery staff as project management leaders.

Whether through Habitat for Humanity, United Way, or business-education partnerships, our employees work together to better the place where we live, work and play.

Q. What is your company’s main strength or its edge over the competition?

A. It’s our people, performance and commitment for Alaska. Our key differentiator is our collaborative culture; it drives the responsiveness that delivers a superior customer experience. It is part of our core values to listen and understand, and to help define our clients’ needs. We then deliver customized solutions, locally with global resources, in a safe, cost-effective, and commercially responsible manner.

Q. Does your company have a website?

A. www.ch2mhill.com/alaska.