History

On April 1, 1972, BE&K officially opened its doors for business. The company was founded on the concept of providing  engineering and merit shop construction services for capital-intensive industrial projects and was based on the philosophy:

"in all business activities, the principals and the company will exert maximum effort toward integrity, quality and efficiency in engineering and construction in order to merit the special relationship of trust between owner and engineer-constructor considered to be so vital for successful execution of the project. We will build to build again!"

Bolvig, Edmonds & Kennedy (February 8, 1972)

BE&K, Inc. was established by Peter Bolvig, William Edmonds and Ted Kennedy. The name of the company comes from the first letters of the company originators’ family names and the company is seated in Birmingham, Alabama (USA). Several regional offices and subsidiaries are spread across the USA and Europe.

Originally, BE&K supplied mainly engineering and construction services to the pulp and paper industry. Now, after over 30 years of market activities, the company has become a diversified group of construction and engineering companies focused on the US market, but present also in Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and Oceania.

BE&K has a number of alliances and joint ventures with its clients and companies of similar profile. Such a cooperation has been established with companies like: International Paper, DuPont, Weyerhaeuser, Southern Company Services, MeadWestvaco, The Technip Group, Polar Construction, John Brown, Bechtel Corporation, and Bell South Telecommunications.

In 2007 Engineering News Record ranked BE&K as:

In 2009 Engineering News Record ranked KBR as:

BE&K’s expansion onto the Polish market in 1994 was a result of a long-term cooperation between BE&K Inc. and the worldwide pulp and paper manufacturer International Paper from the United States.

International Paper, after purchase of the former “Zakłady Celulozowo-Papiernicze w Kwidzynie” (Pulp and Paper Mill in Kwidzyn), began the mill optimization and maintenance restructuring process. Due to BE&K’s experience on similar projects in the USA, International Paper invited BE&K to participate in this effort in Poland. As a result of the mill maintenance organization assessment carried out by BE&K, the company decided to establish BE&K Poland organization, responsible for partial take-over of the existing mill maintenance forces and provision of supplemental maintenance services to the mill.

In the second year of BE&K’s operations in Poland, a new BE&K company (BE&K Europe)  was founded. Its main task was to provide engineering, repair and construction services to International Paper and other clients across Poland and Europe.

In 1997, BE&K Europe enriched its resources by additional shop facilities and experienced construction team acquired via a merger with INTERTECHNIKA Company, seated in Sulnowo near Świecie n/ Wisłą. BE&K Europe management was taken over by the owners of INTERTECHNIKA, and the company started the service scope expansion and quality improvement process, including acquisition of necessary licenses, certificates, and implementation of ISO 9001 quality management system.

Years 1998 - 2000 brought more changes to BE&K Europe’s organizational structure. In 1998 the company established a maintenance division at the International Paper mill in Klucze (now Kimberly Clark). In 1999, a similar maintenance division was created at the Grajewo Chipboard Manufacturing Plant (now Pfleiderer).

In 2000, BE&K Poland, responsible for supplemental maintenance services at the International Paper mill in Kwidzyn, was merged with BE&K Europe. Since that time, BE&K Europe has been also providing maintenance services directly to the International Paper mill in Kwidzyn.

In response to International Paper’s needs in the Russian market, BE&K International and BE&K Europe established BE&K East in 2000 (seated in Svetogorsk, Russia). The main duty of BE&K East operations has been supplying maintenance and construction services to the International Paper pulp and paper mill in Svetogorsk (OAO Svetogorsk). Additionally, BE&K East provides construction, repair, and fabrication services to other clients across Russia.

In July 2008, BE&K Inc. was purchased by KBR (Kellog, Brown & Root). KBR is a company quoted at the New York Stock Exchange, which supplies its services in over 45 countries and employs, including BE&K, approximately 60,000 people all over the world. The KBR headquarter is located in Houston, Texas in the United States of America. KBR’s activities cover mainly power and petrochemical industries, government services and civil infrastructure.

In May 2009 BE&K Europe celebrated the 15th anniversary of our operation in Poland by organizing on this occasion two events, the first of which took place in a historic palace in Baloszyce, Poland, and the invited guests included, apart from our employees, the main clients, municipal authorities and cooperating companies. The second event combined the celebration of the 15th anniversary and the Children’s Day and was organized for our employees and their families at the sports and leisure grounds “Milosna” in Kwidzyn.