Although the general business environment in North America was sluggish, and the opportunity for growth in the consulting engineering industry was limited, Acres succeeded in setting another all-time record for revenue. Growth came through expanding existing business, and adding new business through acquisitions.
Skimming through the Review - seeing 12 business months pass in a couple of minutes - the impression is of a busy, broad-based organization with a healthy mix of big and small projects in North America and overseas. Each Review has a theme which reflects the mood of the year. For 2002 the theme was "Getting the job done". I have always thought that the ability to deliver on promises, consistently, is more important in the long run than the occasional flash of brilliance.
Not that brilliance is missing from the year's achievements. On page 8 of the Review, you can read about the Misema project - a small hydro development which started five months late because of regulatory delays. Acres project managers were able to recover four of those months through fast-track scheduling. On page 12 you'll read how Acres has proposed community-run energy generation combining three renewable resources - wind, sun and biogas - for remote settlements in Bangladesh.
Another trend that appears in these 32 pages is Acres ability to work successfully in partnership with other engineering groups. For a firm of our size, this is the only safe way to become a player in major projects, such as the restart of two units at the Bruce A nuclear generating station in Ontario. In other partnerships, with Parsons A&E in the West and Hatch in the East, we are pursuing opportunities in energy and in mining, respectively.
If you aren't on our mailing list for the Annual Review and would like to receive a copy, click here or to review it online, click here. It'll tell you a great deal about the kind of organization that Acres is today.