If it’s possible that any industry firm was prepared for 2020’s pandemic-induced disruption, engineering firm WGI could make a strong case.

For starters, there are the numbers. The West Palm Beach, Fla.-based multidisciplined engineering company experienced one of the largest percentage gains in revenue of any participant in this year’s Top Design Firms ranking. The firm’s $71 million total for 2020 Southeast revenue represented a roughly 55% bump over the prior year’s $45.7 million.

While the vast majority of its revenue came from Florida, WGI stayed in growth mode as it moved to expand its geographic footprint, an effort recently boosted via a 2019 acquisition of Big Red Dog Engineering, a 120-person multidisciplinary engineering firm based in Austin, Texas. And WGI pushed forward in 2020 by furthering early steps at organic expansion along the Florida Panhandle and along the Gulf Coast.

至关重要的是，在2020年，该公司的坚固培养网站WGINC.com（与数十个播客和博客都相同，似乎都是为大流行而建造的。Though initially ramped up in 2019, the site’s people-centric focus nevertheless reflects the Zoom culture of 2020, as just a few clicks seem to inevitably lead to an image of a “real professional,” as WGI says, or a white paper focused on a variety of topics that website visitors can use to quickly connect to the firm.

该数字界面的投资在2020年获得了良好的收益，首次通过网站启动了许多互动，从而导致与多个国家客户的合同。此外，该网站（在2021年3月赢得了38,000名独特访问者和135,000页的浏览量），该网站的副总裁兼首席营销官Will Schnier说，启动的领导者将启动该网站，将大约12-20个项目转变为大约12-20个项目。18luck官网

But WGI was ready in other ways, too.

Staying Steady

Another internal effort initiated years before the pandemic aided WGI in 2020. The firm’s crisis-management team, created several years ago and comprised of human resources, legal and other staff, jumped to the forefront to help steady staff during the first weeks and months of 2020’s mayhem. It proved important.

“We were all hit with so much uncertainty,” recalls CEO David Wantman. “All of a sudden there was a huge deadly crisis going on.”

Employee safety was the first priority as crisis managers frequently updated staff on changing COVID-19 protocols. From there, the staff’s guidance was straightforward.

“遵守规则和照顾客户,“Wantman says, adding: “Stay focused on marketing, stay focused on client deliverables, stay focused on client satisfaction. That paid off.”

当突然的衰退似乎在整个行业上笼罩着，WGI工程师和员工有很多客户分散他们的注意力，使他们从周围的灾难中分散注意力，并从实力的位置进入了这一年。Wantman说：“像大多数好公司一样，我们以纪录的积压进入了2020年。”

此外，该公司在三个关键市场中一直处于良好状态。首先，佛罗里达州现在即将繁荣起来，为狮子的东南收入提供了狮子的份额。

其次，第三，在两个关键项目部门（该州的强大运输市场和现在蓬勃发展的单户住宅发展部门）中的实力正在帮助快速将以前的预言衰退转变为幻影。

Case in point, WGI’s 2020 win of an approximately $4-million contract to provide professional surveying and utility engineering services for the Brightline Trains “higher-speed” railway’s roughly 130-mile-long segment running from West Palm Beach to near Cocoa in Brevard County.

Highway and bridge work marks another area of expertise for WGI. For example, the Florida Transportation Builders Association recently recognized the engineering firm with a Best in Construction Design-Build Award for the I-95 Diverging Diamond Interchange at St. John’s Heritage Parkway.

Working on the increasingly common diverging-diamond concept, with its alternative traffic movements, represented an important stretch of WGI’s experience and a “very exciting project,” says Nancy Clements, senior vice president and transportation sector leader.

她说：“做一些有点不寻常的事情真是太好了。”“客户正在寻找有不寻常项目经验的人。”18luck官网

WGI’s recent collaboration as design-build partner to Superior Construction Co. on the $234-million Wekiva Parkway 6 contract further illustrates the firm’s strengths in this project-delivery approach, according to Pete Kelley, the construction firm’s president.

凯利说：“他们为[设计建筑]流程带来了很多创造力，并在追求项目和施工过程中投入了必要的资源。”

他说，关键是WGI应对意外情况的能力。

他说：“我们可能最欣赏与他们合作在设计建设项目上的事情是，他们完全理解情况将会改变，他们必须迅速对这些变化做出反应。”18luck官网

这种情况 - 肉眼 - 在Wekiva项目上启用。幸运的是，由于WGI还在执行岩土技术和地下相关的工程工作（除了桥梁设计外），因此团队可以迅速做出反应，并做到了这一点。凯利说，由于设计建造者能够优化设计并在项目的早期阶段降低成本，因此“这有助于使该项目尽可能低于预算”。18luck.cub

Wantman说，Do-It-All心态是WGI的标志，因为该公司良好连接的各种学科团队的干部平均可以从合同中保留约90％的收入。

Bright Days Ahead

Looking to the future, another Florida construction boom appears to be on the horizon, with numerous firms reporting a switch from pause to fast forward.

On the transportation front, “I don’t think we missed a beat,” Clements says.

她补充说，大流行对公共部门预算的负面影响是“有点令人恐惧的时刻”，但拜登政府提出的大大增加联邦基础设施资金的提议反过来预示着提高新合同的承诺。

旺曼（Wantman）所说的单户住房令人惊讶的“爆炸”也对WGI来说也很好，该WGI将几个国家家庭建筑商视为客户。该公司通过水，下水道，铺路，分级，景观建筑和地理空间服务提供与分区和规划过程有关的服务。

领先的WGI地理空间部门副总裁罗伯特·汉森（Robert Hanson）补充说，与沿海工程和其他环境工作有关的联邦工作应为公司提供越来越多的机会。尽管在这一领域竞争，但“鉴于联邦政府对缓解洪水，降低风险，气候变化，沿海地区影响以及人们的普遍移民到这些地区的所有利益，”汉森有信心会有机会。

For these reasons and more, ENR Southeast recognizes WGI as its Design Firm of the Year.