Spanning multiple continents and technical disciplines, Stantec regularly places in the upper ranks of ENR’s national list of the Top 500 Design Firms. The Edmonton, Alberta-based firm’s corporate footprint includes New England states, with more than 260 licensed architects and engineers located in 14 offices.

But while being part of a global enterprise offers many advantages, Stantec’s New England leadership strives to project the positive attributes of a far smaller organization. “Because we manage business at a local level, clients see us as very reachable and available,” explains Peter Howe, Stantec regional leader for transportation. “At the same time, many of our projects are large and complex, requiring a certain depth of expertise and depth of talent that Stantec has in most every discipline needed.”

Adds Bob Corning, regional leader for planning, landscape architecture and urban development, “Every office is community-bound, which helps reduce the scale of the company.”

That approach makes a difference to clients such as Todd Fremont-Smith, senior vice president of Boston-area developer Nordblom Co., who is working with Stantec to repurpose the Boston Globe newspaper’s former 695,000-sq-ft headquarters into The BEAT, a mixed-use creativity hub. “You know they can tap a lot of expertise,” Fremont-Smith says, “but on a day-to-day basis, they retain a small-firm aesthetic that is unique for larger firms.”

Stantec’s success in applying the principle of thinking globally while acting locally is one of many reasons the firm was selected as ENR New England Design Firm of the Year. The company reported more than $194 million in regional revenue in 2019, a 60% increase since 2018, and was ranked No. 2 in ENR New England’s Top Design Firms list.

Stantec不仅限于单一市场行业，还能够在广泛的备受瞩目的公共和私营部门机会中运用其专业知识和资源，从为纪念2013年波士顿马拉松轰炸的受害者的纪念碑设计基金会等等，到主要的主要internal roadway upgrade at the city’s Logan International Airport.

Transportation is but one of the region’s many infrastructure needs, according to Stantec senior principal Chris Yannoni, who oversees water projects in the region. “Many water and sewer systems are aging and vulnerable to failure, particularly in the older cities,” he says, adding that while Boston and other cities have benefited from a strong economy in recent years, “infrastructure upgrades are critical to keeping [the region] going and improving quality of life.”

豪指出，洛根机场B和C之间的Stantec设计的1960年代道路和结构的替代者为例。他说：“该项目具有您可以想象的一切 - 技术复杂性，机场中心紧凑的站点以及加速的时间表，同时使用传统的设计 - 建造交付。”“这带来了巨大的挑战，可以通过结构性到岩土技术来实现大量学科。”

Thinking Ahead

经验也帮助Stantec架构and interior design services adapt to the accelerated pace of private-sector projects.

Stantec Architecture首席Colleen Arria说：“客户已经变得更加渴望尽快将铲子置于地面上。”“我们已经开发了一个大型项目图书馆，为我们提供了基础，以迅速发展一个项目18luck官网。”

Increased use of virtual reality and other tools also helps clients engage and make decisions sooner, creating what Arria calls “a more interactive, collaborative design process that is much more productive and fun for clients.”

That might seem a rather unusual way to characterize a complex renovation challenge such as The BEAT’s core building, which Nordblom plans to transform from its industrial newspaper production past into a mix of office, laboratory and flex/industrial uses to stimulate growth in fields such as robotics, life sciences and high-tech manufacturing. The BEAT will also include space for retail and amenities such as a fitness center and a craft micro-brewery.

Nordblom’s Fremont-Smith recalls the existing three-story concrete-framed structure his company purchased in late 2017 as being “a post-industrial mess,” rife with vestiges of the past that included warrens of offices and hallways and infrastructure supporting massive printing presses that once churned out hundreds of thousands of newspapers every day. “While we had a vision of what we wanted to do, Stantec was way ahead of us in understanding the physicality of the building—the way the structure would have to be torn apart and put back together again to achieve it,” he says. “Having that incredible unifying architectural vision during the permitting phase was crucial in helping neighborhood groups and planning authorities recognize the project as good architecture and a creative reuse of the building.”

弗里蒙特·史密斯（Fremont-Smith）补充说，在一个屋顶下拥有所有所需的建筑，工程和环境学科是一个额外的好处。他说：“十年前，我们更有可能雇用各种不同的顾问，并试图自己管理这一过程。”除了更有效的效率外，拥有单一的设计服务来源“使我们可以做更多的交易”。

Post-Pandemic Paradigm Shift

Stantec的新英格兰专业人士现在将他们的前瞻性观点应用于Covid-19爆发带来的许多转变。Arria believes that while the protracted isolation generated by state and local stay-at-home mandates will fuel a desire to reengage with other people, “we’ve also learned a lot about working remotely, which will require a reimagining of the conventional workplace.”

The nature of public spaces in the urban environment also will likely change. Corning cites a mixed-use project in Newton, Mass., for which Stantec recently held a design charette shortly before the outbreak occurred. One of the planning considerations for a central green space was the number of yoga mats the space could accommodate. “Obviously, the dynamics of interaction and programming for the public realm will change,” he says.

该地区的基础设施也将受到影响，因为减少的州和地方收入使公共机构的资金更少，用于资助所需的升级。Yannoni说，一种帮助的一种方法是将自动化和实时监控技术集成到水和下水道系统中，以改善运营，同时还会降低长期成本。18luck.cub

Similarly, Stantec’s expertise in infrastructure management could yield other solutions for stretching transportation budgets. “Our assessments of pavement, utilities and structures can help owners prioritize spending and explore options to extend the life of their assets without resorting to wholesale replacement,” Howe says.

While the coming months are shrouded in uncertainty, Corning is confident the Boston design market has the resilience to recover relatively quickly, noting that project funding remains and design has continued. “Probably about 95% of projects will go ahead,” he says. Arria agrees, citing the region’s strong science and biotechnology sector, with many firms involved in researching virus treatment alternatives. If there’s a potential downside, it’s the long-standing shortage of skilled craft workers. “Our market will continue to flourish, but we still need [them] to get those projects done,” Arria says.

Stantec’s commitment to communities it serves isn’t in short supply. In addition to participating in the firm’s worldwide week of community service every September, New England offices have supported more than 80 organizations of all sizes and missions over the last year. One of the most anticipated events for the Boston offices is an annual sponsorship of the Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl, the nation’s largest all-you-can-eat ice cream festival, where volunteers team up to scoop ice cream. “It’s the same mindset that we bring to our projects,” Corning says, “solving problems and providing benefit for the community.”