Unprecedented growth on the back of booming infrastructure investment has prompted Wood & Grieve Engineers and Stantec to integrate in a move described as a union between “complementary rather than competitive organisations”.
The decision will see WGE, which has more than 500 employees in six offices around Australia, gain access to Stantec’s global pool of talent and resources.
The multi-disciplinary publicly-listed corporation, headquartered in Canada, has more than 400 offices across the globe.
Stantec also has a growing presence in Australia. In 2017, Stantec was named joint best consulting engineering firm for its size at the Australian Financial Review and Beaton Consulting Client Choice Awards.
WGE has experienced “unprecedented growth” over the last 12 months, says the firm’s chief executive officer José Granado, and has worked on several significant projects. Among them are Optus Stadium and Elizabeth Quay in Perth, Queens’s Wharf in Brisbane and Green Square and the Greenland Centre in Sydney.
“This strong trend of growth across Australia prompted us to explore opportunities to expand our reach and the obvious pathway was through partnership with a like-minded organisation,” Granado explains.
“We wanted a partner that could integrate our services and that shared WGE’s vision and culture. After identifying and assessing several candidates, it was clear that Stantec was a great fit for our organisation.”
WGE has a workplace culture admired throughout the industry. Earlier this year, WGE was awarded its eighth Aon Hewitt Best Employer Accreditation, becoming Australia’s longest running accredited Best Employer in the history of the program.
“Stantec’s outstanding track record of delivering iconic projects to the highest standard, client-centric culture, and exemplary attitude made it the ideal partner,” Granado adds.
Stantec president and chief executive officer Gord Johnston says WGE’s wealth of experience and corporate culture are “invaluable assets”.
“We see considerable economic opportunity in Australia for a company like ours. In combining forces with WGE, we’re considerably expanding our existing Australian presence and capabilities to better meet the needs of communities across the country,” he says.
“Together, our teams also provide the Australian market with a culture-driven place of employment that connects local team members with a global company community. And we will support some of the largest, most critically important infrastructure projects in the region.”
After WGE’s board passed the motion in October, both companies commenced due diligence, which is expected to be complete early next year.
Granado says there is very little overlap between the services and projects the firms provide, and the integrated team will offer “a wider range of services to existing clients and better meet the demand for high quality engineers”.