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TRANSACTIONS FINLEY ENGINEERING GROUP ACQUIRED BYCOWI Zweig Group, a full- service AEC management advisory firm, announced its client FINLEY Engineering Group has been acquired by COWI. The acquisition is part of COWI’s strategic focus on growing its presence in North America following the recent opening of its offices in Houston and Toronto. Zweig Group advised FINLEY through the acquisition. The deal team included Zweig Group managing principal, Jamie Claire Kiser; advisor John Bray, CM&AA; senior analyst Drake Hamilton; and analyst Will Anderson. “We are proud to have been a part of this successful partnership, and look forward to seeing FINLEY continue to leverage its elite technology and expertise to create success for its own, as well as COWI’s growing client base,” Hamilton said. FINLEY specializes in complex bridge projects, having worked with more than 100 projects in the United States, Canada, Middle East, Africa, and South America. FINLEY’s noteworthy projects include providing engineering services
on the Oakley C. Collins Memorial Bridge in Ohio, and work on the Bayonne Bridge between New York and New Jersey. The team at FINLEYwill continue to work under the management of Craig Finley who founded the company in 2004. Finley said, “It has been an incredible journey ever since we established FINLEY nearly two decades ago. We have worked hard, had a lot of fun, and can look back with pride on everything we have built and achieved together. For us, engineering has always been very much a people-oriented business, and it has always been a priority to me that every member of my team thrives and sees a purpose in what they do for a living.” COWI North America president and chief executive Thomas Dahlgren said, “As a company with a long history in bridges, globally and not least in North America, we are very excited to welcome FINLEY into the COWI family. FINLEY is known for its outstanding work with bridges, but also for its strong technical capabilities and a great go-do attitude.”
FINLEY is particularly well-known for the development and implementation of BrIM (Bridge Integration Modeling) that integrates bridge information databases into the planning, design, and construction process using advanced engineering software. “We expect to see many business opportunities in North America within all aspects of transportation infrastructure – bridges, tunnels, and highways, among others needing modernization and replacements,” Dahlgreen added. “There is a lot of work to do, and digitalization is incredibly important to us so that we can ensure best practice processes. COWI and FINLEY are a good match, because both focus on high-quality solutions and want to cultivate innovation. Together, we have a strong team in place for the job ahead of us, which is now also in Florida.” Zweig Group, three times on the Inc. 500/5000 list, is the leading research, publishing, and consulting resource for the built environment.
our initial belief that the collective office experience enhances and improves our design thinking, wellbeing, and professional development. Time with colleagues is valuable to sustaining the culture and cohesion of the firm and the quality of our work. The regular patterns of people coming to the office has given us a planning framework for collective activities that we will be rolling out this year, including in- person office meetings and celebrations related to design achievements and our employee resource groups/diversity initiatives. Many of these activities were curtailed in 2020, but now it is essential to provide engaging opportunities for people to come back together. Our most recent office survey demonstrated an evolution of thinking from an individual- centric hybrid work modality to a more office-centric one. The pendulum is swinging from a question of what is best for me as an individual to what is best for a collective, creative team. Moments of serendipity within the office setting are so important to spark new ideas and reinvigorate our design thinking. The social interactions, casual lunches, sketch crawls, and studio and officewide celebrations take on additional value when we are not all together all the time. As the imminent threat to people’s health abates, we believe the hybrid model will remain, but each firm will need to strengthen the collective design, social, and professional development activities to keep their practices vibrant and engaging. Heidi Blau, FAIA, LEED AP is a partner and chief operations officer at FXCollaborative. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
HEIDI BLAU , from page 3
and redefine the work process so we can continue to design spaces, buildings, and urban landscapes that we all want to live in. The challenge we faced was to determine what kind of an environment we could create with a hybrid workplace policy. We needed to respect individuals’ health and wellbeing, both physical and emotional. We also had to recognize that each person has a different personal and professional situation. We have a diverse population, with people at all different stages of their careers, different household demands, and different community responsibilities. These differences needed to be considered as we asked everyone to come together and bring their best selves to their work. HYBRID DESIGN BENEFITS. The hybrid work model has instilled more rigor in our design process, but it is not a one- size-fits-all solution. Just as each of our design solutions is a result of unique criteria and circumstances, each design team must define a work process that is appropriate for their projects. How often the team comes together, the duration of the interactions, and whether they are virtual or in-person, is defined and agreed to by all the team members. It is a process that is adaptable to the building typology, client demands, and team composition. The cadence and duration of these interactions evolve as the design takes shape. Fluidity and structure are counterbalanced to support creativity. CONFIRMATION. What we have learned over time confirms
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THE ZWEIG LETTER MAY 16, 2022, ISSUE 1441
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