Beca (officially Beca Group Limited) is one of the largest employee-owned professional services consultancy firms in the Asia-Pacific region. The company has more than 4,300 staff working across 25 offices around the globe, with headquarters located in
Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
.
History
Beca was founded in 1920 by Arthur Gray on his return to New Zealand after
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, where he purchased an engineering practice that would later become Gray and Watts, then Gray Watts & Beca. A merger with
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
firm Hollings & Ferner in 1968 formed Beca, Carter, Hollings & Ferner, with the firm eventually known as Beca Group Ltd.
The company's name reflects the contribution of George Beca, CBE, DFC, D.Eng (Hon) (1921–2001), who joined the partnership of Gray and Watts in the early 1950s and led the firm for many years. Beca has had several name changes following amalgamations. Beca Steven existed from 1989 to 2001 after amalgamation of Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner with Steven Fitzmaurice & Partners.
Earthquake Engineering
Beca has a long-standing reputation for excellence in
earthquake engineering. John Hollings (founding partner of Hollings & Ferner) is regarded as the 'father of capacity design', with his design for the Jerningham Apartment building in Wellington (completed in 1968) demonstrating the 'strong columns, weak beams' design philosophy that is the foundation for modern
earthquake resilience in structures and features in almost all international seismic design codes.
The company was the engineer for the world's first base isolated structure: the South Rangitikei Viaduct, a 78 metre high, 315 metres long concrete railway viaduct completed in 1981, where the piers can 'step' up to 13cm off their foundations under earthquake loads, dissipating the earthquake's energy without causing any major structural damage.
More recently, Beca's
seismic retrofit
Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...
work has been recognised with major international structural engineering awards, including the retrospective base isolation of lift shafts at
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...
's Rankine Brown Library and seismic retrofit of 8 Willis Street, an office building in central
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
.
Awards
Beca was named the Best Provider to Power & Utilities sector at the 2019 Financial Review Client Choice Awards.
2018
* Best Consulting Engineering Firm (revenue > $200 million)
* Best Provider to the Government & Community sector, joint win
* Best Provider to the Power & Utilities sector
* Most Client-focused Practitioner – Hamish Denize
2017
*Best Professional Services Firm (revenue > $200 million), joint win
* Best Consulting Engineering Firm (revenue > $200 million), joint win
* Market Leader: New Zealand
2015
* Market Leader
* Best New Zealand firm
* Best Provider to the Power & Utilities sector
* Best Professional Services sector provider
* Best Property sector provider
See also
*
Sir Ron Carter, former chairman of Beca
References
External links
Beca Website
{{Authority control
Engineering companies of Singapore
Engineering companies of New Zealand
Engineering companies of Australia
Employee-owned companies
Technology companies established in 1918
Consulting firms established in 1918