Ground improvement specialist firm Menard USA has bought Farrell Design-Build Companies, a speciality geotechnical contractor based in California, US.
Farrell Design-Build Companies was founded in 1999 by Tim Farrell, who will remain president of the company following the acquisition. It builds deep foundation and ground improvement support for heavy structures, parking garages, office, high-rise and industrial buildings, hospitals, schools and universities, water treatment plants and warehouses in the highly seismic regions of California. Its 65 employees will join Menard.
‘We are delighted to join Menard. With the support of a larger group, we can now offer more services to our California and West Coast customers,’ says Farrell.
Menard USA is part of French company Menard, an international specialty ground improvement construction company, itself part of Vinci Construction. Menard operates in more than 80 countries providing ground improvement services with techniques such as wick drains, earthquake (EQ) drains, Controlled Modulus Column (CMC) rigid inclusions, stone columns, dynamic compaction, rapid impact compaction, and soil mixing. Typical projects include support of warehouses, buildings, material storage piles, processing areas, embankments, roadways, port facilities, storage tanks, containment structures, and relieving platforms.
‘Farrell is an entrepreneurial company in a market which has both soft and liquefiable ground. They focus on design-build ground improvement projects using techniques similar to ours in a high-seismic environment. Like Menard, Farrell is driven to influence the market, bringing value to their customers by expanding the application of ground improvement as an economical substitute for piling where appropriate,’ says Menard North America CEO Seth Pearlman, adding: “The bottom line is that we were not on the West Coast. Now we are – and we have a great partner in Farrell in this highly-active region of the United States.’
