Owen Ayres, a decorated WWII pilot, founded what would become Ayres Associates in 1959.

Owen always stuck to his ideals of working with clients as partners; offering smart, creative solutions; conducting business with integrity; and challenging employees to tackle a variety of work and advance in their company.

The firm started in the downtown Chamber of Commerce building, designing buildings and municipal wastewater facilities and surveying. Major projects in the ’60s were the Eau Claire County shops building and runways at the Eau Claire County Airport. 

The firm moved its headquarters to West Clairemont Avenue in 1971 and to Oakwood Hills Parkway in 1993.

Today Ayres employs 360 professionals in 13 offices in six states who solve clients’ diverse challenges through civil/municipal engineering, architecture, mechanical/electrical/plumbing engineering, transportation, structural design/inspection, environmental, geospatial, landscape architecture, planning/development, river engineering, water resources, telecommunications, and subsurface utility engineering.