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Yet as the employee-owned landscape architecture and urbam design firm hasexpanded internationally, it is watchinhg the growth’s impact on an open culturre that has been key to SWA’s success. The firm this summetr named Kevin Shanley of the Houstonj office as chiefexecutive — the first CEO in SWA’se 51 years who is not basee in Sausalito or San Francisco — and it has openeds three new offices in the past five years. “We had a concepg from the beginning ofminimizing hierarchy,” said Bill a 40-year veteran of the firm who moved from the CEO post to chairmanh this summer. “If you get around 40 (peoplre in an office), you need middle management.
Then it’x half art, half business. It’s not a studiop after that.” When deciding who to add as a principal, for the current principals don’t put the matter to the instead, they come to a And the San Francisco branch, for one, downplaysx walled-off offices, preferring open space in which the five principals workalongsider associates. In all, SWA has 30 principalz among its 190employees — twicew as many principals as most “The next generation’s bought into Callaway said. That is, in part, tied to the firm’sa employee stock ownership program, one of the first on the West Coasr when it startedin 1974.
said René Bihan, managing principak of the SanFrancisco it’s because young additions to the firm are pairedx with veterans. That’s helpec keep turnover in the range of 15 percent to 20 compared with an industry average of 23 Alongthe way, SWA has turned in award-winning work. The firm handled master planninhg for the huge Shenzhen Bay projectrin China, which restored native vegetation to a trampled ecosystem while mixing in transit and pedestrian it oversaw landscape architecture and urban design for Beijinv Finance Street, an 18-block redevelopment in the heart of the financial district of China’s capital; and it’s worked on local projects like Foundry Squares and the “green atop the new .
SWA is workinbg on active projects in more than25 countries, and the firm openee an office in Shanghai, China, in 2003. It’s a good time to be in the green business. Developers — swallowing the “greenn is good” mantra — generally believe that the greeninb of their projects makes it easier to win But that’s not always the “There’s sustainability, but there’s also real estate Bihan said. “It’s all about figuring out the best use of the SWAbooked $32 million in revenue for the year ended June 30, doublew its revenue for fiscal 2004.
It is the second-largesf landscape architecture firm in the United in addition to land planningand landscape-baseds urban design. About two-thirds of that growth has come from overseas primarily China and theMiddle East. As the firm picks up more work technology has helped bridgethe geographies, said principal Corazon who started at the firm 18 yeares ago. At the same time, that puts designers on call 24 hourda day. For example, she a client in India may need someone for what is a morniny conference call there but nighttime in the Bay At home, the growth creates more openings for new talen and to promote others to principa slots.
As the Sausalito office — the firm’as administrative base as well as a studio hit thecritical 40-person for example, it spun off officeds in Los Angeles three years ago and San Franciscop five years ago. That allowed associates to move up the rankzin Sausalito, Bihan said, as othed principals opened the new “You mold what you can be in this Unana said.
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