“We empower our talented people to make the best decisions for our clients. We respect their professionalism and trust them to do the right thing,” says Guy Templeton, president and CEO of WSP in Australia and New Zealand.

He cites the Sydney Metro as a great example. Australia’s largest public transport project will help revolutionize the way people travel while considering population growth and supporting economic prosperity. “As community-minded people who work, live and play in Sydney, we have a duty to ourselves to ensure that we deliver on this project”, says Guy.

As a firm and as professionals, we are accountable to ourselves, our clients and our shareholders. On a larger scale, we are ultimately accountable to the societies we support.

Here are some projects representing our empowering culture.

Kaikōura is a town situated on the eastern coast of the South Island in New Zealand. In November 2016, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Kaikōura, resulting in road and rail links being destroyed and emergency services and communities being cut off. 

Our Highway Network, Geotechnical and Bridge Teams were deployed within hours – undertaking reconnaissance from land and air to assist in the extensive emergency coordination works to provide access to isolated communities. Our Structural Engineers also began to carry out building triage assessments.

We coordinated closely with agencies including our clients NZ Transport Agency and KiwiRail; Civil Defence; affected councils; the NZ army and multiple contractors. In the weeks that followed, our role shifted from an emergency response to a recovery phase including route management, prioritizing resources and providing the Transport Agency and others with professional and timely advice.

=> Read more about Emergency Response and Recovery in KAIKŌURA

We value our relationship with clients and partners, and believe that innovation is key to the success of any project. Our work with STTS (Société Toulousaine de Traitement de Surface) in the design of paint hangars for wide-body aircraft is a prime example.

STTS first hired WSP 10 years ago to create a design that optimized paint hangar operating costs. We ran multiple airflow models to determine the best design, taking into consideration technical challenges.

For example, the velocity in the painting areas must be less than 0.8 m/s to avoid clouds of paint between the gun and the surface to be painted, and more than 0.3 m/s to comply with the requirements of the French health authorities. Over the years, WSP and STTS improved induction air diffusion systems to further reduce the treated airflow rates. The work of our employees has become a reference in paint hangars, thus increasing WSP’s global activities in this field.

=> Read more about Paint Hangar for Wide-Body Aircraft

The largest environmental construction project in Florida’s history will make a major impact on restoring the natural habitats of the Everglades while improving the quality of water in the region.

The C-44 Reservoir/Stormwater Treatment Area, set for completion in the summer of 2018, is a project covering nearly 4,000 hectares in South Florida. For the current phase, WSP is serving as construction manager on behalf of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). WSP supports the SFWMD by ensuring the stormwater treatment area is constructed according to the design documents so that it meets established water quality goals.

“Being part of a project of this scale means being empowered to think out-of-the-box to make a profound positive impact on the environment” says Project Manager Camille Dominguez.

=> Read more about Martin County Everglades Restoration Project