We Do
That?
Part Two: The Fourth Dimension
In this second installment of our
four-part “We Do That?” series, we
meet Stantec experts working in
the fourth dimension—time. These
canny chronologists peer into the
past, the present, and the future to
uncover the information that our
clients seek. Finding new ways to
better serve our clients is all part of
our account management strategy.
Words: Lewis Kelly
Design: Holly Wickland
Things That Were
California’s bullet train, scheduled for completion sometime
in the 2020s, will zip around the state at over 200 miles per
hour (320 kilometres per hour), faster than any existing
rail network in North America. But this future-facing
project will proceed only if Stantec can help the state’s
rail authority properly record California’s history.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority must comply with
the National Historic Preservation Act, which mandates that
those undertaking infrastructure projects document and
conserve cultural resources affected by their projects. And
“cultural resources” could refer to anything—from the profound
to the prosaic—created by humans more than 50 years ago.
As an archeologist, Michelle focuses on buried materials.
But cultural artifacts located above the surface fall within
the purview of architectural historians like Sandra
DeChard (Glen Allen, Virginia). Using techniques similar
to those used by Michelle, Sandra advises clients whether
a log cabin or a craftsman bungalow is eligible for listing
in the National Register of Historic Places. To determine a
building’s age (age, as well as rarity, is a major component
of historic significance), Sandra might refer to property
deeds and tax records. Most of the time, however, a
simple photograph of the property does the trick.
“Houses exhibit trends just as clothes do,” she explains.
She adds that windows often give away a building’s age.
“You can look at clothing and know whether it’s from
the 1940s or the 1980s. Same thing with windows.”
Demand for Michelle’s and Sandra’s services from groups
across Stantec keeps them busy. Michelle is involved
in projects in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada,
California, and both Dakotas, while Sandra’s work has
taken her to Virginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland,
and North Carolina. “Once US folks discovered our staff,
they really started tapping into us,” Michelle says.
“We often have to record beer cans from the 1950s on
job sites,” says Cultural Resources lead, Michelle Cross
(Rancho Cordova, California). “Condensed milk cans too.”
Michelle and her peers determine an object’s historical
significance by asking four questions: 1) Is the object the
work of a master in design? 2) Is it of rare type, period, or
construction? 3) Is it associated with a unique historical event?
4) Can it teach us something new? If the answer to any of these
questions is yes, the object qualifies as a cultural resource.
16
Michelle Cross
Sandra DeChard
Cultural Resources Lead
Rancho Cordova, California
Architectural Historian
Glen Allen, Virginia
Things That Are
Lake Banook, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is one of Canada’s most
prestigious canoeing and kayaking venues and home to some
charming lakefront residences. It’s also home to some fastgrowing and noxious underwater weeds. When these weeds
aren’t getting tangled with racing kayak paddles, they’re washing
up on manicured lawns in notably uncharming and stinky piles.
For years, the municipality has been waging a campaign against
them. But figuring out where exactly these weeds are growing is
as much work as actually removing them. What can Halifax do?
Marc Skinner
Heather Ward
Senior Scientist
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
GIS Coordinator
St. John's
Newfoundland and Labrador
The City of Halifax calls senior scientist Marc Skinner
(Dartmouth, Nova Scotia) and geographic information system
(GIS) coordinator Heather Ward (St. John’s, Newfoundland and
Labrador). The two are part of a Company-wide group that leads
Stantec’s burgeoning remote sensing program, which has put
the Stantec Research & Development Fund to great use. Short of
outright espionage, Marc and Heather use every tool under the
sun (and several beneath the sea) to probe lakes, lands, and seas.
Remote sensing involves gathering information about an
environment from a distance. Measuring equipment such as
lidar (measures the distance to objects by analyzing reflected
laser light) and sonar (measures distance and density using
reflected sound) is transported on drones, airplanes, or boats.
Satellites—the same ones used by Google Maps—are also used.
When sunlight hits an object, that object absorbs some
wavelengths and reflects others. While the human eye can
distinguish a number of hues of reflected light with wavelengths
between about 400 and 700 nanometres, the satellites Marc
and Heather use can distinguish significantly more over a
slightly broader spectrum (between 400 and 1,040 nanometres).
Therefore, the satellites can often “see” what we can’t. They
capture the reflected light as numbers, which they transmit
to Heather, who runs quantitative analyses using mapping
software like IDRISI and ArcGIS to pick out the characteristic
spectrum of whatever the client needs mapped.
For Lake Banook, the team uses sonar, which functions a bit
like a bat’s echo-location. Boat-mounted sonar systems send
pulses of sound through the water and “listen” to the sound that
bounces back. This lets Marc and Heather map the distribution,
height, and density of the weeds, and the water depth and
sediment composition of the lake bottom.
The team’s mastery of the latest and greatest informationgathering techniques has led to a steadily growing client list.
About half of Marc’s work now takes him to Stantec offices
outside of Nova Scotia. He’s mapping eelgrass, a favorite haunt
of Pacific salmon, off the coast of British Columbia, and he’s
surveying rockweed, where lobsters often hang out, in the
Atlantic.
As Marc says, “There’s no shortage of people looking for help in
figuring this stuff out.”
We Do What Is Right SPRING 2016 17
Things That May Yet Come to Pass
The task of revealing the future has traditionally fallen to people
like prophets, Ouija board enthusiasts, and fortune tellers with
crystal balls. But the world’s changing climate adds another entry
to the list: structural engineering project manager Stuart Adams
(Laurel, Maryland) and his co-workers and his coworkers.
“Everybody wants to address the impact of climate change, but
few know where to start,” says Stuart. “Our team knows exactly
where to start: by modeling the future.”
The team begins by collecting climate data and information—
like status and lifespan—about their clients’ physical assets—
like buildings and infrastructure. Then, using three publicly
developed tools—CMIP, VAST, and Hazus (see Figure 1)—and a
custom-developed piece of software, Stuart and his peers make
robust predictions about the impact climate change will have on
specific communities. From these predicted impacts, the team
makes recommendations about what assets will need reinforcing
and when. Their distinct approach in a developing market has
attracted interest from Amtrak, the Maryland State Highway
Administration, and the U.S. Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA).
Stuart Adams
Project Manager
Structural Engineering
Laurel, Maryland
Still, what will happen in the future is notoriously difficult to
pin down, and some predictions can be hard for clients to hear.
That’s why Stuart and the rest of the team run their models
retroactively. They then analyze how well the model’s predictions
match up with actual events. For example, using weather data
from Hurricane Sandy, the team modeled how the assets at
Amtrak’s station in Wilmington, Delaware, would be impacted
by the storm. Sure enough, the model correctly predicted damage
caused by the real-life hurricane. “When the tool’s predictions
correlate well with what actually happens, we build trust for
predictions about the future,” says Stuart.
But “what will the temperature be in five minutes?” is easy to
answer correctly. “What will the temperature be in five decades?”
is harder. To make their long-range forecasts useful, Stuart and
the rest of the team ask clients probing questions about their
client’s assets. How old is this infrastructure? Has it failed in the
past? If so, in what way and where? Does it need to last until 2050
or until 2100? These answers help the team craft a plan tailored
to their specific client.
“The further you look out, the less certainty you have,” says
Stuart. “But by using the most reputable data and tools, as well
as by understanding our clients’ needs, we help clients make an
informed choice about how to manage their assets in light of
potential climate change.”
Ask your marketing team if another
arm of Stantec can meet your client’s
needs. Cross-selling—a vital part
of our strategic plan—is critical to
achieving our goal of becoming a
top 10 global design firm.
Figure 1. Tools of the Trade
Tool Name
Tool Developer
Tool Use
Coupled Model
Intercomparison
(CMIP)
World Climate
Research Programme
Comparing output of
different climate simulations
Vulnerability
Assessment
Scoring Tool (VAST)
Federal Highway
Administration of
the U.S. Department
of Transportation
Assessing the vulnerability
of transportation networks
to climate stressors
Hazus
U.S. Federal Emergency
Management Agency
Modeling potential
losses from earthquakes,
floods, and hurricanes
18
Do your clients
ask for something
outside of your
BC’s specialties?
What’s the most striking example of
cross-selling you’ve encountered at
Stantec? spark is developing a series
on the power of unlikely connections
between business centers (BCs).
Contact [email protected]
with your cross-selling story!