Mailbox: Response to “Why are engineering companies blurring their names?”

The following letter is in response to the editorial Comment on p. 4 of the August-September 2015 print issue of Canadian Consulting Engineer.

The article referred to the trend for engineering companies to rebrand using acronyms for their names. Click here.

In a rapidly consolidating engineering consulting industry, your recent editorial discussed the potential for commoditized services and the loss of personal service that clients value and expect.

While not all mergers are successful, with hard work and the right incentives they can become platforms for further growth and new opportunities.

In our recent merger of GHD and Conestoga-Rovers & Associates (CRA), we sought to minimize disruption to our teams so they could continue to focus on client service. Earlier this year we celebrated our tenth year as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for excellence in business performance, even as we completed one of the largest mergers in the engineering and environmental industry.

With one in every four of our people being a shareholder, our employee ownership model created shared incentives. From Montreal to Melbourne, our people have a stake in the combined business and in our long term direction and success.

The CRA brand was highly regarded, but our new identity as GHD continues to demonstrate our shared safety culture and high standards of quality and ethics.

Far from blurring our identity, our merger has diversified the range of services we offer our clients as well as opening the door for our people to share their skills across our global network.

Steve Quigley
General Manager – North America, GHD