Things have changed significantly since GRW, an engineering, architecture, and geospatial firm, was founded in Lexington 60 years ago. The days of hand-drawn plans have evolved into the use of CAD design, GIS technology, and artificial intelligence. However, Ben Fister, board chair and CEO of GRW, emphasized that the company will continue to embrace new technologies as it has in the past—by integrating them into its services to benefit both clients and employees.
With a renewed federal focus on transportation and water infrastructure, GRW board chair and CEO, Ben Fister, said both areas represent “strong growth areas” for the sixty-year-old company.
Founded in 1964 by George Reynolds Watkins, GRW is a multidisciplinary design consulting firm that has played a role in some of the most important aspects of what makes Central Kentucky unique. These projects often go unnoticed, representatives with GRW said, as they’re typically beneath Central Kentuckians’ feet or supporting their tires as they drive along the roads.
GRW has helped design barns at Keeneland, entrance and access roads at Versailles Road and Man O’ War Boulevard, and worked on access roads, water transmission, gas lines, power transmission, aprons, aircraft hangars, and a radar tower as part of the Blue Grass Airport expansion. Other clients have included Spindletop Hall Estate, the cities of Danville and Nicholasville, Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex, the University of Kentucky, and Toyota.
Now with offices in four states (Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and West Virginia), the firm boasts more than 190 employees, 110 of whom are based in Lexington. Fister said the company has completed projects in 100 Kentucky counties, every state in America, and several foreign countries, including mapping the Panama Canal for a multi-billion dollar widening project.
Currently, more funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a $550 billion federal investment in the United States’ infrastructure and economy over the next five years, has been allocated to transportation and water systems.
“The focus on infrastructure is sound, and growing, because all of the highways need maintenance and connector highways need to be built. On the water resources side, there’s always expanded criteria for clean water,” Fister said. “We think that both of those are strong growth areas.”
Chris Hammer
Chris Hammer, GRW’s new president and chief operating officer, said the firm is also focused on developing new talent. Hammer, who previously worked for GRW from 1993 to 2004, returned as president and COO in late 2023. With more than 30 years of experience, Hammer said his return to the company reflects the high value he places on GRW’s culture of technical excellence.
“The work GRW does often goes unnoticed, as much of our work falls into the category of infrastructure,” he said. “But we’re proud to have the ability to use our skills to improve the places we live and work. I’m also excited about both the young and experienced team members we’ve added to our team.”
Hammer said the firm likes to identify young people early in their career and provide them with experience. In the past 10 months, the company has hired between 20 and 25 people across all its offices and continues to train college students through its internship programs.
“The past 60 years have seen a lot of great men and women come through the firm who have worked in a variety of roles,” he said. “We’re getting ready to send some of our university students back to college this fall who have spent the summer with us. That energizes us to see them get a start on their career and motivates us to help people grow in their careers and in our industry. We hope they stay with us their entire career, but a lot of times they will become our clients down the road.”
Over the past 60 years, Fister noted, the firm has evolved as the needs of its clients and industry have changed.
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Walt Roycraft
GRW provided design and construction administration services for the Frankfort Plant Board’s Consolidated Administration Building, which provides electric, water, cable, internet, and more for the city of Frankfort and surrounding areas.
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Matt Wooley/EquiSport Photos
GRW provided design and construction administration services for Lexington’s East Hickman Wet-Weather Storage and Pumping Facilities.
“The biggest challenges in the past were developing expertise in all of the key disciplines that it takes to support the needs of communities in their infrastructure, which is all streets, utilities, and then the land development for commercial industrial development,” he said.
That challenge also includes adapting to changing technology.
“We were the first firm in the state to adopt the major CAD systems to cover all of our work,” he said. “In fact, we were representatives for AutoCAD, MicroStation, and ESRI, the three major producers of CAD systems.”
The firm has also played a role in developing aerial surveys and geospatial mapping for the military.
Hammer said the company would continue to adapt new technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence in ways that best fit the industry.
“It has to be a data-driven process,” he said. “I think things like flood mapping the country and predicting evacuation zones or evacuation plans will come from that.
“We’re all trying to see the future. We’re trying to see how autonomous vehicles are going to play out. Is that going to be in our lifetime? We have to plan for a lot of those things now.”