Insights

The Highland Sam J. Racadio Library and Environmental Learning Center unites the best in academic and hands-on educational experiences, and our engineers’ mechanical, electrical, and plumbing expertise helped bring it all together. Located in the city of Highland, San Bernardino County, just outside of Los Angeles, this innovative center holds much more than your average […]

If you’re headed to the beach this summer, you may encounter some of our designs—especially now that we’ve merged with T-Squared Engineers and Axiom Commissioning Group in San Diego, just minutes from the beautiful California coastline. These additions to the Salas O’Brien portfolio include dozens of waterfront properties from city-run parks to military facilities. Here […]

Salas O’Brien’s engineers have experience designing for projects from entire master-planned communities to expansive critical environments. But oftentimes, complex projects fit into a small space. One of our recent projects exemplifies a small space with precise design needs. Housed in the university’s Fine Arts building, San Francisco State University’s new Global Museum serves as a […]

Salas O’Brien is pleased to announce the addition of James (Jim) Anderton to the firm’s leadership team for commissioning. Anderton comes to Salas O’Brien from Independent Commissioning Consulting (ICC), a firm he led for the past eight years, and he brings more than 30 years of experience in commissioning, construction, facility maintenance, and design. “As […]

In any industry, the safety and efficiency of engineered production processes have a major impact on the bottom line. In the food and beverage industry, there’s a lot more than money at stake. Even the slightest production errors can radically affect consumer health and safety, and public trust, once lost, is difficult to regain. The […]

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) began in 1993 with the singular mission of promoting sustainability in the building industry. This passion led to the creation of what has become the world’s most widely respected and utilized green building rating system: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Since the system’s inaugural year at the […]

At Salas O’Brien, efficiency is more than just catch phrase. It’s the goal we’re constantly pursuing and achieving in our work. With the addition of our new Varo team, we can increase efficiency in more markets that ever before—including the manufacturing industry. In manufacturing, the efficiency and longevity of industrial equipment have a huge impact […]

Salas O’Brien has decades of experience designing building systems and controls from mechanical and electrical to direct digital control (DDC), life safety, and fire protection. Our professionals have an extensive knowledge base that covers not only older electric, pneumatic, and electronic systems, but also the migration path of the cutting-edge systems of today. Our merger […]

To Salas O’Brien clients, the word “commissioning” means energy savings, lowered operating costs, and optimal environments—but a lot goes on behind the scenes to achieve these amazing results.  The field is constantly evolving, so having a trustworthy, communicative expert by your side through the process will make all the difference. What’s Involved? Commissioning can be […]

Sophisticated property owners aim to construct a building as economically as possible, and for good reason. Financial pressure is intense. But yet, over a 30-year span, a building’s utility, maintenance, service, and system replacement costs can run between 50 to 80% of the facility’s total cost (including construction costs). The more complex the building and […]

Salas O’Brien’s merger with T-Squared Professional Engineers has brought us a team experienced with military projects—yet the word “military” includes a wider variety of projects than you might think. For example, a child development center owned by the U.S. Navy received engineering and LEED consulting services and achieved Silver Certification. In another case, we provided […]

Sustainable energy and power generation have been integral parts of Salas O’Brien since the company’s inception in the 1970s. Today, our merger with Varo has expanded our impact on the energy and power industry with the addition of power transmission and distribution clients and expertise. Power Transmission and Distribution Varo’s mastery of power-related design flows […]

The term “critical environment” can refer to any environment that supports mission-critical functions of an organization, but across industries its usage varies. At Salas O’Brien, we use the term to describe a variety of environments including facilities that support mobile providers, financial institutions, broadcasters, or similar—institutions that rely on faultlessly secure and reliable facilities. But […]

At Salas O’Brien, whether we’re tackling a demanding project or using the latest technology to deliver excellent design solutions, we’re always growing. Our merger with Varo enables us to provide services in new markets, and as a joint team, we’re excited to see more clients in more industries and locations than ever experiencing the Salas […]

Salas O’Brien is passionate about giving back to the community. We give back on our own time and together as employee-owners, and we’re excited when we see our clients giving back as well.