Civil engineers are joining planners and landscape architects on the Design+Planning team at WithersRavenel in a collaborative move aimed at providing greater service to our municipal clients.
Curt Blazier, PE, Director of Engineering for Design+Planning, will head up the engineering team joining the D+P crew at WithersRavenel’s Raleigh office. With the addition of the civil engineering group, the department now has 30 employees.
“It’s exciting for me to have all three disciplines in our group, because it really does make us more collaborative,” Cindy Szwarckop, AICP, Practice Area Lead for Design+Planning, said. “Having the designers, planners, and engineers all working together makes for better deliverables for our clients.
“And I think it makes our employees more well-rounded too, because they’re learning from all the different disciplines.”
The move to add engineering to Design+Planning emerged within the last year when Curt proposed the idea. “The change definitely speaks to the company’s commitment to training and developing their employees,” Curt said.
“There are great efficiencies that come from this change, and it also allows for growth,” Cindy said. “Curt and his team have a passion to do this type of work, and this is what they wanted to do.”
Curt spoke of future growth in terms of eventual expansion of the Design+Planning group to add more employees in other WithersRavenel offices, such as Charlotte, to allow for even greater localized coverage of municipal projects served by the group.
Additionally, having the three disciplines on the same team sharpens the focus on providing municipal clients with excellent product delivery. Cindy said. WithersRavenel is also hoping to grow its client list, expanding services to more and larger municipalities while continuing to work with architects and other consultants to provide a broader array of complementary services.
“Curt’s teams work on such a diverse range of projects, everything from greenways to streetscapes to schools, community colleges, and municipal buildings such as Fire/EMS stations,” Cindy said. “Whether it is a city, town, county or school, we feel like we can make a big impact in that realm.”
Would you like to put WithersRavenel’s Design+Planning team to work in your community? Contact Practice Area Lead Cindy Szwarckop, AICP, at 919-238-0386 or cszwarckop@withersravenel.com.