How does a geotechnical engineering company help U.S. communities?

Making communities a better place to live. It might not be the first thing that pops into your head when thinking of your local engineering firm. Yet that is what Rouzbeh Afshar, Regional VP of California for Universal Engineering Sciences (UES), was looking for when he joined the company two years ago.

How does a national geotechnical engineering company put community involvement into action?

One example is UES’ Schaffer Dam spillway enlargement project in Porterville, Calif. The goal of the project was to increase the capacity of the basin to support the farmers in that area and prevent damage due to flooding downstream from Lake Success.

A project like this — one that provides farmers with more water — is highly significant for communities and is exactly the kind of project that Afshar had imagined being a part of when joining UES, an engineering and consulting company specializing in geotechnical engineering, construction materials testing, building code compliance, special inspections, and environmental consulting.

UES’ other significant recent and upcoming projects across the nation include the Gaylord Pacific Resort Hotel and Convention Center, Vans Headquarters, Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts, the I-4 Ultimate Project, Howard Frankland Bridge, Brightline High-Speed Rail and SunRail, Seefried Industrial Properties & Hillwood Investment Properties, MLS Stadium for St. Louis City Soccer Club, North Texas Municipal Water District – Bois D’Arc Lake, Billingsley Company – Cypress Waters, and the Las Vegas Convention Center, as well as other important transportation, residential, commercial, and industrial projects.

The firm also takes the opportunity to give back through donated services. UES’ Las Vegas branch, for example, donated services for the creation of the St. Jude’s Ranch for Children’s new Healing Center. The Healing Center will be the only one of its kind in the country and specialize in trauma-specific treatment for child sex trafficking victims. Donated services included a two-phase geotechnical investigation, with drilled borings and bulk soil sampling, as well as an engineer-stamped report that included grading recommendations and foundation design parameters.

Afshar and UES Western Division President Trent Anderson have spearheaded a strategic Western Expansion Plan for the company. Afshar previously worked at NOVA Geotechnical & Inspection Services, which was acquired by UES as part of its mission to expand its national reach, and, beginning in April 2020, Afshar grew an Irvine, Calif.-based team from scratch.

Today, along with the Irvine office, there are eight other California offices between Sacramento and Escondido with 250+ employees, and is part of a footprint of 3,000+ employees across 67 branches in nearly 20 states nationwide.

Over the next three years, UES plans to add more than 1,500 cross-functional positions across the country.

Anderson was brought on as President of the Western Division, which covers California, Utah, and Nevada. He has been working in the engineering industry for the last 13 years, and, before that, was in general contracting and commercial construction.

“I appreciated UES’ vision for community involvement and sustainability, and jumped at the opportunity to join the team,” Anderson says.

The industry has taken notice of UES’ growth strategy. In 2021 and 2022, UES was named No. 1 on the Zweig Group Hot Firm List, which honors the fastest-growing firms in architecture, engineering, planning, environmental, and construction in the U.S. and Canada.

This year, UES jumped to No. 42 on Engineering News-Record’s Top 500 Design Firms, ranking No. 15 in the general building category and No. 31 on the Top 100 Pure Designers.

For Afshar and Anderson, community involvement, sustainability, and growth meld together as one.

“We see ourselves as leading from the West,” Anderson says. “With all of the unique geological challenges, plus a state government with the most stringent building codes in the country, California is where it’s always happening. There is a significant amount of ‘pioneering work’ happening here.”

Over the past several years, sustainability in engineering practices has become a bigger focus nationally. The natural leader in sustainability is California.

UES’ Western Division has made sustainability the centerpiece of its work. For Anderson, this circles back to the firm’s acquisition strategy.

“Our sustainability strategy is to partner with firms who are also focused on sustainability. That might mean acquiring companies that provide our services for clients in the renewables space like solar, wind, and battery power,” he says. “That will keep sustainability front and center for the company as a whole.”

How does geotechnical engineering work in California help shape what is happening elsewhere in the country?

“Here in our Irvine office, we are just down the road from Disneyland,” Afshar says. “I think of California as Disneyland for this industry.”

In the mind of an engineer, the extreme challenges of geography that California provides do feel a bit like Disneyland.

“In coastal areas, we have to manage concerns about shallow groundwater,” Afshar muses. “In California, you are never far from a fault line. In desert areas, you have to solve for hydro collapse of soil after heavy rains. We are on the front lines of all of these geological challenges.”

On the quality assurance and compliance side of the business, there is nowhere with more stringent codes than California. For UES, that means an education component needs to be a part of its service offerings.

“What we are building is unique and unprecedented,” Afshar says. “Traditionally, this line of business was all managed at the local level. We challenge the status quo, looking to maintain the quality of service of a local presence and combining that with the benefits of a national firm. We will continue to make a difference in the local community while gaining access to a broader spectrum of resources, best practices, knowledge, and experts across the nation to better serve our clients.”

For the UES Western Division, the coming year is one of further strategic planning and acquisition. That’s part of the firm’s larger aggressive M&A and organic growth strategy — over the last 24 months, UES has doubled its staff and tripled in size with more than a dozen significant acquisitions. The firm is now exploring growth in the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, and further into the Mountain West.

“Making communities a better place to live” may sound like a nice phrase to post in the reception area of your offices. But a focus on community involvement, sustainability, and growth is a winning strategy for Afshar and UES – “and,” Afshar concludes, “we intend to keep it that way.”

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