Smith, Seckman, Reid Inc.

Company’s coverage is far-reaching as it hits 40 years

By Dana Crisson

In February, the employee-owned engineering, design and building consulting firm of Smith Seckman Reid Inc., headquartered in Nashville, will hit an impressive milestone: its 40th anniversary.

With more than 500 employees in 11 offices across the United States, the firm has come a long way since it was originally conceived by four Vanderbilt University classmates – Tom Seckman, Andy Reid, Bobby Smith and Lester Smith.

SSR specializes in consulting services related to facility and infrastructure design, operation and management. 

“The firm was founded at the same time as the Hospital Corporation of America, so hospital design was the start of our business,” says executive vice president Steve Lane. “HCA work comprised 75% of our business in the first two decades. We have worked in over 1,000 hospitals over the years, so we have excellent name recognition in that field.”

The firm has seen remarkable growth in its medical communications and commissioning service lines over the years. In 2006, it provided the engineers for the new state-of-the-art acute care center in Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. It performed design and engineering services for the new Auburn University basketball arena, as well as structural, mechanical and electrical design services for the Northwest Passage Exhibit in the Memphis Zoo.

Projects this year include medical communications work for the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and Columbus Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio; commissioning service for BlueCross/BlueShield of Tennessee in Chattanooga and for Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston; and mechanical, electrical and plumbing/fire protection for Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo.

President and CEO Rob Barrick joined SSR in 1974, serving as vice president of the Houston branch office before being named president in 1986. He was at the helm when the business began acquiring additional firms, including Lane’s environmental/engineering firm in 1981.

SSR currently has offices in Houston, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Denver, Phoenix, Sarasota, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville, although the bulk of its focus remains in the South Central area of the nation.

“In the 1980s, we decided that we did not need to have all our eggs in the health care basket, so we began to diversify geographically and by broadening our engineering services,” Barrick says. “SSR now provides a matrix of services related to facility and infrastructure design, operation and management across the market sectors we serve.”

SSR has three operating divisions. The first two serve the health care market, and the third, Lane’s division, encompasses civil, environmental, sports and entertainment, and industrial engineering services. This division also handles the area of compliance.

“We recognized the growing need to provide regulatory compliance assistance, especially in the field of health care, where buildings are monitored by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. JCAHO states that everything from the light fixtures to the exit signs must be clean, serviceable and operating properly. We developed software that allows us to help hospitals do their own monitoring and to provide the necessary documentation to JCAHO.”

A growing number of local, state and federal buildings now require LEED certifications, which promote a whole-building approach to sustainability by categorizing performance in sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

In response to this, SSR began designing plans to retrofit existing buildings to become LEED compliant. “We go into new or existing buildings to determine if the building is really as green as it was intended to be. For example, are the windows, wall systems and mechanical systems all being used and performing as originally intended?

“We have been performing LEED work for over five years now. We spent the majority of the first three years educating people. Now we are seeing a groundswell of interest.”