Celebrating 65 Years – Prepared for Today and the Future

March 27, 2020 – COVID-19 / Emergency Preparedness

At TLC, we have a culture of emergency preparedness. Our firm’s 65-year history is defined by structures designed to be resilient and functional despite the challenges that weather or other potential disasters may bring. As we have grown as a firm, with multiple TLC offices located in hurricane or blizzard prone areas, we have applied the same resiliency planning principles to our operations. Being prepared is part of our culture.

The current climate around COVID-19 has been a new test of our preparedness. Keeping our employees and clients healthy and safe is our top priority during this outbreak, and as of March 17^th, we transitioned our staff to working from home.

As such, we have taken the appropriate steps to verify that our systems and processes can maintain business operations while we work remotely. Here are some important highlights of our COVID-19 response plan:

• We have a robust virtual network that provides our staff the ability to remote connect to the office systems. This system has supported our team members who are co-located or on site with our clients for project meetings and job sites for years.
• In recent years, we transitioned to digital and cloud-based services for many of our tools to better prepare us for this time. This transition involved:
• Replacing paper codes for digital, searchable codes on MADCAD, accessible to all of our team from anywhere.
• Moving our file storage and network to the cloud.
• Setting up two datacenter sites in geographically disparate cities, providing complete backup to all of our operations.
• Investing in BIM 360 licenses for all of our Revit users to support client collaboration, regardless of location, integrating this into our workflow.
• Using MS Teams, Skype, and GoToMeeting for internal and external communications. If you are using an alternate platform, we’re glad to meet you there.
• Verifying that even our remote connection capabilities have backup arrangements in place.

Historically, at prior times of disruption, our clients and facility owners that continued to design, and even construct, during uncertainty and economic downturns positioned themselves for long-term success. We are ready, capable and excited to continue working and designing your projects. As your trusted advisor, we will draw upon our firm-wide resources of 400 professionals to support you and conserve your time.

During these unprecedented times, we understand the importance of staying connected to each other. We have a variety of communication tools in place to advance your projects, in alignment with your expectations.

Thank you for the opportunity to be your engineer of choice. Together we can overcome the challenges faced by this situation while keeping our communities safe.