Halliwell Engineering Associates Inc. of East Providence, R.I., has been acquired by ServiceMaster Management Services in Downers Grove, Ill.

The company will now be called Halliwell Engineering Associates, LLC and will continue to operate offices in East Providence, Napa, Calif., and Orlando, Fla. Another office is currently being set-up in Chicago. Jack Halliwell will remain president of Halliwell Engineering and becomes senior vice president at ServiceMaster Management Services. He expects to spend at least half the year at the Chicago office. Other promotions within Halliwell Engineering due to the merger were also made.

"It's a real powerhouse for the industry," said Jack Halliwell in an exclusive interview with IE Connections. "It provides tremendous growth opportunities for us... [and] it's going to change the face of the way things are done. [There's] no one else in the industry that can compete with us."

"It's a real powerhouse for the industry. It provides tremendous growth opportunities for us... it's going to change the face of the way things are done." Jack Halliwell

Halliwell and ServiceMaster began talking last May about ways to combine the expertise of both companies. The two were already well acquainted thanks to several large cases they worked on involving outsourced facility management work and IAQ problems. With premise that the top three causes of IAQ problems were design errors, construction deficiencies and operation and maintenance mistakes, ServiceMaster challenged Halliwell to put together a business plan so that the two companies became one team.

"ServiceMaster was inheriting a lot of problems," he told IE Connections. "This [merger] really helps their customers. "Halliwell Engineering are experts in design and construction deficiencies, and ServiceMaster had a huge data base of cases involving O&M errors becoming IAQ problems. They had no one to decipher these problems. They were missing the engineering core and we could provide it."
After setting up the Chicago office, some of Halliwell's initial goals are to work with current ServiceMaster customers and do baseline surveys. Halliwell Engineering will also review building designs for renovation projects.

"One of the primary goals of this merger is to make proactive IAQ management a priority for ServiceMaster customers," Halliwell said. "This helps reduce claims."

ServiceMaster Management Services is a leading provider of managed services to the education, business and industry, and healthcare markets. Rob Keith is president of the division. They provide value added solutions to non-core support services in more than 2,500 facilities around the world.

In February of this year, ServiceMaster was named the most admired outsourcing company in America by Fortune magazine.

Halliwell Engineering has performed engineering and environmental assignments for some of the nation's largest facilities and, most technically-oriented building owners. Some of the categories include: mechanical and electrical design, expert engineering investigations, forensic investigations, litigation and expert witness testimony, IAQ diagnostics, remediation and management, and asbestos management and abatement.

Halliwell himself is a well-respected professional in the IAQ marketplace. He is registered professional engineer in 13 states and has developed and implemented corporate IAQ programs, policies and procedures.