Frank Leathers Leads GEI Consultants to New Heights; Firm Celebrates 35th Year

July 22, 2006 —

New England Real Estate Journal — BOSTON, Mass. — Recently, over 200 employees, clients, and partners came together at the Copley Plaza Fairmont Hotel to celebrate the 35th anniversary of GEI Consultants. Since its founding, GEI has grown from a five-person firm to more than 250 professionals in 16 offices throughout the United States.

GEI was founded to provide geotechnical engineering for the design of buildings, bridges, roads, nuclear power plants, and dams. Since then, GEI has expanded its practice to include environmental and water resources engineering based on its comprehensive knowledge of soil behavior, groundwater flow, and earth science as contaminated soil and groundwater emerged as critical issues.

The Next Generation

GEI has successfully navigated the challenges of ownership transition as the result of an early and steady commitment to internal ownership transition by the original founders. With patience and wisdom, the five founding Principals guided the gradual transition of responsibility to a new leadership group.

Twenty-five years after joining GEI as a geotechnical engineer, Francis Leathers, P.E. was named president of GEI in 1999, the first non-founder to serve in this role. “Frank shared our values and the commitment to maintain GEI as an employee-owned firm,” said founder Dr. Daniel LaGatta. “He has played a key role in expanding the firm’s business areas and geographical reach.”

Over the last seven years, Leathers has focused on building a strong leadership and management team that can carry the firm into the future. This team is committed to running the firm as well as they perform their technical work. GEI has recently developed and put into practice a Project Delivery Model to consistently deliver extraordinary project service that exceeds client expectations and reduces the project risk.

Team Player

GEI prides itself on being ahead of the curve. One example is the firm’s use of ground improvement techniques. Squantum Gardens is a combined community services and apartments for seniors developed by the Elder Housing Squantum LLC and E.A. Fish Associates in Quincy. The multi-story buildings were originally designed to be built on deep pile foundations due to the presence of organic soil beneath the buildings. Ground improvement using Controlled Modulus Columns (CMC) was ultimately designed by GEI as a schedule and cost-saving alternative to deep foundations. The ground improvement system allowed the owner to construct the buildings on spread footings with slab-on-grade floors, rather than pile caps and a structural slab. This ground improvement system produces limited spoil during installation and less soil handling and disposal, resulting in additional cost savings.

Finding creative solutions using underground space is another GEI specialty. Recently, GEI provided geotechnical and environmental consulting services associated with the construction of the 20-story Colonnade Residences in downtown Boston for The Druker Company. From initial investigations through construction, the size-restricted site had called for creative engineering approaches. Nearly the entire site was excavated to a depth of 35 feet immediately adjacent to an occupied hotel, a subway tunnel, a high-rise residential/commercial building, and old brick row houses supported on timber piles. By adding an extra level of basement, with valuable additional parking spaces, GEI was able to eliminate pile foundations and use a mat foundation instead. This reduced cost, shortened the construction schedule, and reduced vibration and noise impacts on the neighborhood.

GEI provided comprehensive geotechnical and environmental services for the design and construction of the J. Joseph Moakley Medical Services Building at Boston Medical Center (BMC). This 90,000-sf building centralizes cancer care services on the BMC campus. GEI worked closely with BMC and R.F. Walsh Construction’s tight schedule to complete the excavation and foundation construction phase of work while the final building design was still in progress.

GEI was engaged by Leggat McCall Properties to provide integrated geotechnical and environmental services at One First St., a mixed-use project which included the renovation of existing historic buildings and the construction of new buildings to create luxury condominiums where “Cambridge meets Boston.”

Trusted Advisor

GEI brings a breadth and a depth of technical understanding that can make or break a project. As a trusted advisor, GEI offers strategic consulting and insight, helping to move projects forward through its ability to work in a collaborative process with all the stakeholders.

For Leathers, the most successful projects are those where GEI’s work is closely integrated with the owner’s development team, the architect and planner, the structural engineer, the site civil engineer, and the construction manager. In a strong collaborative atmosphere and with early involvement, GEI’s technical expertise and creative approaches to the geotechnical and environmental aspects of the project can generate the greatest value for the project and the owner.

What’s Next?

GEI will continue to evolve and enhance its services by providing strategic consulting to clients related to property asset management and development. The company excels at managing environmental liabilities and determining how to best remediate problems to allow the development to move forward. With a strong and capable leader like Frank Leathers at the helm, GEI’s next 35 years will certainly be as successful as its first 35 years.