Ushering new leadership in transportation for communities of the future

With a background of more than 16 years in transportation infrastructure projects, Michael Collins takes the lead as the Ontario Transportation Market Leader at GHD, where he plans to bring a new focus to the engineering solutions for communities present and future. “Working with the public and private sectors, each face different challenges and have diverse needs. At GHD, we are looking to mature our relationships with the public and private sectors in parallel and grow our teams to meet these needs,” says the newly appointed Ontario Transportation Market Leader. 

The traditional approach from the engineering industry in the transportation market was to replicate proven solutions for similar-looking problems. This worked well because most needs required similar solutions, so a one-size-fits-all modus operandi was welcome. “However, given the complexity of the challenges our communities are facing right now, as engineers and planners, we have the responsibility to look more broadly at the solutions and the tools we have. Incorporating sustainability and resilience into existing and new infrastructure amid a growing and changing population is a complex scenario to navigate,” adds Collins. “Our problems are more variable, and our project objectives aren’t universal. Our solutions need to be customized and fit for purpose as a result,” he highlights.
 
In this context, in late 2022, the Ontario provincial government issued Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, which amends the Planning Act with the goal of delivering much-needed housing for an accelerating population growth. “This new regulation requires municipalities to deliver faster, build more, and even source funding differently. This new need calls for a new approach. We can’t deliver the same way we traditionally have because it won’t allow us to keep up with the faster pace this entails. The transportation and infrastructure challenges must also be different for these new communities. It will require adapting and modifying existing systems to have them perform differently, while simultaneously expanding our transportation systems and infrastructure differently,” says Collins. 

The growing population and transportation systems come with an added challenge — the balancing act these growth pressures put on decarbonization. Taking initial steps to understand our carbon footprint and climate risks is key when planning lasting solutions. “There are endless competing interests when we look to implement any change, and decarbonization is no different. It is critical to reflect on our client’s core values to aid in our decision-making and help us prioritize and make context appropriate solutions along the way. When it comes to the tensions around spatial constraints and system capacity, building new versus renewing existing assets, modal choices and energy demands, we need a set of guiding principles.

The right solution is the one that aligns best with our client’s values and strategic objectives, and the process and solution may look very different from the decisions of the past. Every client is different, and we need to understand the challenges of each one to know them more deeply by genuinely paying attention to their people, the communities they service, and their stakeholders. We know a lot from experience, but sometimes we need to spend more time listening and reflecting, so we can really understand the problems at hand,” highlights Collins about the role of active listening when planning for resilient transportation networks and how to carry out decarbonization.

“The playbook that we’re going to need doesn’t exist. We’re going to write it,” adds Collins about the importance of “unlearning” the traditional engineering approach to developing infrastructure solutions for the future. “Our purpose is to support healthy, safe, resilient, and equitable communities by delivering transportation systems and infrastructure that helps enable that. It’s not just building the same infrastructure of the past, using less carbon or the ability to withstand a changing climate. It’s about adapting for people and building for purpose. That is precisely what I want the focus on being for the Ontario Transportation Market going forward, and GHD to be a champion in purpose-driven solutions. There’s an underlying and fundamental human element to what we do, and we need to understand and pay attention to it by listening to the communities we work in, to align solutions with their values and to where they are in their own journey as a community.” 
 
With the infrastructure deficit and population demand, Michael aims to strike a balance of public and private sector transportation projects to grow a robust, resilient transportation network across the province. With relationships in both sectors, we work to mature our services, build capacity, and positively impact our clients’ projects. “I don’t have a stand-alone agenda; my goals are our team’s and clients' goals. My objective is to find areas of mutual value alignment where we can provide service excellence. When that happens, what’s good for our clients is good for us,” he notes.

GHD in the Americas

GHD has long-standing client relationships, a significant project and economic footprint in the Americas and represents 40 percent of GHD’s global workforce with nearly 4,000 professionals in over 130 offices in the US, Canada, and Chile. In 2023, our Canadian business was named one of Canada’s Top 100 employers and ranks #6 in international design firms operating in Canada according to Engineering News-Record’s 2023 annual survey of key market segments. GHD’s US operations were named as a 2023 Best Places to Work for disability inclusion by Disability:IN. To find a local office, click here.