EDMONTON, AB & WOODRIDGE, IL – Challenger Geomatics Ltd. and V3 Companies Ltd. announced the launch of V3 Companies of Canada Ltd., a jointly owned corporation headquartered in Edmonton that is focused on providing an alternative choice for engineering consulting services in Alberta.

The venture bolsters Challenger’s civil engineering capabilities and brings additional environmental capabilities, further enhancing the well-known geomatics and mapping firm’s ability to service a full range of development, infrastructure, environmental and geomatics needs throughout Alberta and Western Canada. Headquartered just outside of Chicago, V3 gains a critical presence to support its growing roster of projects in Alberta.

“We had current clients who were active in Canada ask us to provide professional engineering and environmental consulting on their projects,” said Rob Petroelje, V3’s founder and CEO. “We started talking with Canadian firms about a more formal arrangement almost two years ago and were thrilled when Challenger identified the synergies of our firms joining forces.”

Challenger saw in V3 an opportunity to grow its professional engineering services. “V3 has over 25 years of operating a top-notch consulting operation with an enviable list of clients and resume of successful projects,” said David Thomson, Challenger’s president. “For example, they have decades of experience in complex stormwater management and wetland and environmental issues that clearly are equal to or better than anyone in the market.”

Challenger’s Engineering Services Group has been restructured under V3 Companies of Canada Ltd., and will focus on providing site civil engineering, transportation, infrastructure and environmental consulting services to both private and public-sector clients. (Challenger’s core geomatics and mapping services continue with no change in structure or operations.) V3 Canada’s staff has been augmented by V3 personnel who have relocated to Alberta, and will be supported by V3 specialists in the U.S.

“Current technology eliminates barriers to operating seamlessly between Alberta and V3 offices in the states,” said Ted Feenstra, Vice President of V3 Companies of Canada Ltd. Challenger’s solid group of professional engineers provides critical local insight and presence to efficiently advance clients’ projects, he added, along with being able to tap into V3’s broad network of experts to find creative new solutions to meet clients’ needs.

“We’ve talked to a lot of clients, architects, planners and municipal and provincial department officials,” Feenstra said. “We’ve done our homework over the past couple of years and we keep hearing a call from them for another alternative to getting their projects accomplished.”

One of the key concerns expressed to Feenstra was uncertainty over emerging wetland regulations in Alberta. “We went through this very same evolution in the U.S. a couple decades ago,” he said, adding that V3 “has specific experience in helping navigate through these changes that we will easily deploy in Alberta.”

Jim Boss, Engineering Services Group Director, said the joint venture will strengthen his Edmonton-based team. “In addition to gaining skills and service lines we don’t possess, V3 has a very strong reputation in terms of client relations and communication,” he said. “V3 Companies of Canada will be very focused on providing excellent project management and a high grade of customer service.”

The new firm will focus its efforts on Edmonton, Ft. McMurray and Calgary, where V3 already is engaged in both site development and environmental consulting projects. Longer term, V3 Companies of Canada Ltd. expects to expand its efforts throughout western Canada, initially through Challenger’s existing offices.

“It’s an amazingly good fit,” said Thomson. “Both firms started about 27 years ago and we have a similar approach and philosophy. We have our strengths and V3 has complimentary ones. Together as V3 Companies of Canada we know we’ll be even stronger … to the benefit of our clients.”

About V3
V3 Companies Ltd. (www.v3co.com) has the expertise to help its clients realize their infrastructure, site development and environmental goals. V3 employs a coordinated, results-based focus for its clients’ projects by offering consulting expertise across a range of service lines that include land development, water resources, environmental, wetlands, ecology, sustainable/low impact design services, ecological restoration, transportation and traffic, construction engineering, construction management and municipal consulting. Now 27 years old and employing more than 200 professionals, V3 has been recognized numerous times as a “Zweig Letter” Hot Firm. It also is listed as one of the industry’s top civil engineering firms by Engineering News Record. Headquartered in Illinois, the company has offices in Alberta, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, and Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

About Challenger
Challenger Geomatics Ltd. (www.chalgeo.com) is an employee-owned Canadian geomatics company. Incorporated in 1984, the company has grown into a major multi-disciplinary engineering, survey and geomatics company. The company is wholly owned by its employees and has a staff of more than 175 employees. Challenger's corporate objective is to offer innovative professional engineering and geomatics services to the public, government and industry in Canada and abroad. This is achieved through the diverse academic background and practical experience of its professional staff. The staff includes professional engineers, engineering technologists, Canada, Alberta, and Saskatchewan land surveyors, software specialists, cartographers, hydrographers, survey technicians, drafting technicians, photogrammetrists and GIS technicians. The firm has offices in Calgary, Edmonton and Ft. McMurray, AB, as well as Whitehorse, YT and Inuvik, NT.

Questions?
Contact: Jim Boss, jboss@v3co.ca, 780.945.2576
Ed Fitch, efitch@v3co.ca, 630.729.6329