WSP

We exist to future-proof our cities and environments. As one of the world's leading professional services consulting firms, we plan, advise, design, manage and engineer long lasting solutions that benefit generations to come. With a Future Ready® mindset, we deliver solutions that shape the communities of tomorrow and help societies find ways to thrive sustainably today. We are a growing team of more than 63,000 people; come join us!

Two engineering firms, G.B.G.M. Ltd. and Les Consultants Dupuis Côté, Inc., began operating in Quebec City, Canada in 1959. The two firms merged in 1987 to form Groupe-Conseil Solivar Inc., which acquired two more companies in the early 1990s, thus establishing a multidisciplinary approach. In 1993, geographic expansion began with the acquisition of three Montreal-based firms; the company was renamed GENIVAR.

Between 1993 and 2006, GENIVAR acquired no fewer than 30 firms, extending its operations across the province of Quebec; it also entered the Ontario market. Between 2006 and 2012, over 60 firms came on board as GENIVAR became one of the largest professional services companies in Canada, with offices in all 10 provinces.

In 2012, GENIVAR acquired WSP Group PLC, a multidisciplinary consultancy based in London, UK, leading to the creation of a professional services firm with 15,000 employees in 300 offices worldwide. The company reorganized as WSP Global Inc. and adopted WSP as its brand name.

In the first quarter of 2014, Focus Group Holding Inc. joined the firm, strengthening its presence in the province of Alberta. In 2015, we announced the acquisition of MMM Group, one of the largest privately-owned engineering consulting firms in Canada, as well as the acquisitions of Levelton and SPL Consultants.

In 2021, we completed the acquisition of Golder, a global firm specialized in earth sciences and environmental consulting services, which added approximately 2,000 professionals to our Canadian workforce. In 2022, the acquisition of Wood’s Environment & Infrastructure business added 2,000 experts to our Canadian workforce, furthering our leadership and capabilities by boosting our presence in British Columbia, Alberta, and the Atlantic provinces. 

In the US, the firm’s origins date back to 1885, when William Barclay Parsons founded the company that would go on to become Parsons Brinckerhoff, based in New York City. Early projects included designing the original New York City subway system and the Cape Cod Canal. Chas H. Sells, Inc. was founded in New York in 1925 and was acquired by WSP in 2007, becoming the firm’s transportation and infrastructure engineering group in the US.

WSP entered the US market in 2000 through the acquisitions of Cantor Seinuk, a structural engineering firm established in 1953, and Flack + Kurtz, a mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering business founded in 1969. Environment & Energy, an environmental and energy consulting business established in 1986, became part of the firm in 2006.

The international expansion of GENIVAR (rebranded as WSP in 2014) began with the opening of a Caribbean office in Trinidad and Tobago in 2004, followed by Colombia in 2011. In 2012, WSP strengthened its presence in Colombia through the acquisition of Consultores Regionales Asociados CRA S.A.S. In 2014, the firm acquired Dessau CEI S.A.S., also in Colombia. 2016 brought the acquisition of Schlumberger’s industrial water consultancy business, enabling WSP to provide related services while establishing a foothold in Chile and Peru. CRC Engineering P.C. (USA) and DITEC (Mexico) were also acquired that year. In 2017, WSP acquired three more companies in the US and two in Latin America.

In 2018, the acquisition of Louis Berger, a US-based international professional services firm, added 5,000 employees to WSP’s workforce. In 2019, WSP acquired Ecology & Environment, a US-based environmental consulting firm. In 2020, we continued to strengthen our expertise and expand our presence in the US through the acquisitions of LT Environmental, an environmental consulting firm, and kW Mission Critical Engineering, which added best-in-class mission critical engineering services to our US building capabilities.

The Golder acquisition in 2021 added approximately 1,700 employees to our workforce in the US and 1,200 in Latin America and the Caribbean. Additional acquisitions in 2021 (tk1sc, EarthCon, Knight and Englekirk) reinforced our market-leading position and our geographic presence in the US. In 2022, the acquisition of Wood’s Environment & Infrastructure business added 220 experts in Latin America and almost doubled the size of our US Earth and Environment team to 5,900.