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Click on the arrows to view images from the build sites where volunteers worked as part of WSP's Habitat for Humanity Build Day.
High Energy Collaboration
Volunteer opportunities at each site included new construction builds, playhouses to help revitalize neighborhoods and necessary repairs to existing homes.
“This is part of our firm’s ESG [environmental, social and governmental] commitment,” said Lou Cornell, president and chief executive officer at WSP in the U.S. “It is truly the ‘S’ in ESG. It’s that social component that is so important to us as an organization. We live, work and play in our communities and this is one way we can contribute that is very much aligned with our purpose and commitments.”
“My favorite part about the build was seeing how happy everyone was together,” said Spiridon Pappas, climate resilience consultant at WSP. “The Habitat site leads, WSP staff, and other colleagues and clients who attended, kept the energy high with laughter and, when the future homeowners stopped by, it reminded us why we were doing this important work in the first place.”
While this effort aligned with WSP’s goal to give back to communities, the main objective was to deepen individual employee commitments to social action through volunteerism.
“Despite the challenges of scaling the effort, this campaign successfully demonstrated how powerful our impact is when we work together,” Pappas added.
“The first year broadening programs in this way can be hard to plan, but once you bring the right people in, the job gets done,” said Sam Dodt, assistant traffic engineer at WSP and a volunteer for the Seattle team. “In partnership with our U.S. leadership and staff across the company, we were able to create a program with massive impact. You can’t do that with a mediocre team. It’s an empowering example for our communities.”

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Brandon Dark was one of several volunteers contributing to the success of the WSP Habitat for Humanity Build project in Boulder, Colorado.
Expanding the Effort
“As a leading engineering, environment and professional services consultancy in the U.S, we are responsible for how we improve and impact the world around us and that starts at the community level,” Dodt added. “WSP’s combined efforts at all of these locations will help revitalize neighborhoods, unify our teams across the business and align WSP values with the personal values of our employees.”
WSP sponsored teams for Habitat for Humanity Build Day in Albuquerque, Boise, Boulder, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orange, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Walnut Creek, Seattle and Tempe – with aims set at more locations in future years.
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit housing organization that works in local communities across all 50 states in the U.S. and in more than 70 countries. Habitat for Humanity has built, rehabilitated, repaired or improved more than 600,000 houses worldwide since 1976. In the 2022 fiscal year alone, Habitat helped more than 7.1 million people build or improve a place to call home, and through training and advocacy, an additional 5 million more gained the potential to improve their housing conditions.
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Habitat for Humanity volunteers work on a new home build in Las Vegas.