Planning & Design Group Brings Many Talents into One Unified Team for a Holistic Approach to Placemaking & Community Development

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Ginny Loaney & Nichole Mendinsky collaborate on a projectThe HRG team has two primary focuses: One is helping people create safe, healthy, resilient, and desirable communities. The other is providing the highest level of service to our clients. Our newly named Planning & Design Group helps us do both in an enhanced way.

We’ve always had broad-ranging talent to create desirable spaces for living, working, shopping, learning, and gathering with family and friends. Our team includes planners, engineers, landscape architects, funding strategists, and construction specialists with creative ideas and extensive experience across many sectors.  Now we’re bringing these diverse perspectives into one unified team: the Planning & Design Group.

We know that every planning and design decision impacts other decisions in a multitude of ways, so we’re fostering collaboration throughout the project life-cycle.  This helps us be nimble and responsive, saving you time and money while ensuring a carefully considered and well-executed end product.

The group is lead by Nichole Mendinsky as practice area leader. As a certified planner, parks and recreation professional, and registered landscape architect, Nichole embodies the vision of this team to bring many disciplines together for a holistic approach to community development.

She is supported by a group of more than two dozen talented practitioners, including our newly promoted group manager, Laura Ludwig, and newly promoted team leader, Scott Bert.

Laura has a deep understanding of the duties and challenges municipal planners face due to her prior experience as community development director for North Fayette Township.  She’s a certified planner and the southwestern Pennsylvania section chair of the American Planning Association.

Laura LudwigScott BertScott is a licensed professional engineer with 29 years of experience. He provides land development and site design services for warehouses and distribution centers, manufacturing facilities, retail, healthcare, educational facilities, and residential communities.

Nikki Mendinsky Recognized Among Women Making a Difference

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Nikki MendinskyCongratulations to our land development practice area leader Nikki Mendinsky, who has been recognized by PA Business Central as a Woman Making a Difference. Anyone who works with Nikki knows her drive to make a positive impact with her work as a planner, landscape architect, and certified parks and recreation professional. She believes strongly in the power of place to improve people’s lives, and you believe it, too, once you’ve had the chance to talk with her or work alongside her.  We’re so happy to see her recognized with a very talented and influential group of leaders in Central Pennsylvania. (Read Nikki’s full bio here.)

HRG Names Land Development Practice Area Leader: Nichole Mendinsky

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Nichole Mendinsky Earns Planning Certification

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Nichole MendinskyNichole Mendinsky has become a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. This organization is the only nationwide association to verify planners’ qualifications. In order to be recognized as an AICP, planners must meet education and experience requirements and pass a rigorous exam.

Mendinsky has 12 years of experience planning and designing community spaces such as parks and recreation facilities, plazas, courtyard, and institutional campuses. She is passionate about bringing people from diverse backgrounds together to support a common vision for the betterment of a community, and she is particularly skilled at public engagement, facilitation, sustainable design, and revitalization initiatives.

Mendinsky is also passionate about continually expanding her skillset to provide the best possible service to her clients. In addition to her membership in the American Institute of Certified Planners, she is a registered landscape architect, certified parks and recreation professional, and LEED accredited professional.

HRG’s assistant vice president Erin Threet says:

“Nikki’s work ethic and commitment to planning and design are unsurpassed. She fully embodies HRG’s dedication to the highest levels of professionalism, and we are glad to have her on our team to support our clients.”

 

ABOUT HRG

Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc. (HRG) is a nationally ranked design firm providing civil engineering, surveying, and environmental services. The firm was founded in Harrisburg in 1962 and has grown to employ more than 200 people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. For more information, please visit the website at www.hrg-inc.com.

Nichole Mendinsky Honored Among Foremost Under 40

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Nichole MendinskyNichole Mendinsky was recently honored by Pennsylvania Business Central as one of the area’s Foremost under 40.  This annual ranking recognizes young professionals with an exceptional work ethic and inspiring stories who editors expect will be the next generation of business leaders and innovators. This year’s honorees are featured in the November 22, 2019 edition of the newspaper.

Mendinsky is a registered landscape architect and team leader at Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc (HRG). She has 12 years of experience planning and designing community spaces such as parks and recreation facilities, plazas and courtyards, as well as institutional campuses. Her passion is bringing people from diverse backgrounds together to support a common vision for the betterment of a community, and she is particularly skilled at public engagement, facilitation, sustainable design, and revitalization initiatives.  In her spare time, she volunteers for the Nittany Valley Joint Recreation Authority in Bellefonte Borough.

 

ABOUT HRG

Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc. (HRG) is a nationally ranked design firm providing civil engineering, surveying, and environmental services. The firm was founded in Harrisburg in 1962 and has grown to employ more than 200 people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. For more information, please visit the website at www.hrg-inc.com.

 

ABOUT PENNSYLVANIA BUSINESS CENTRAL

Pennsylvania Business Central is a monthly publication covering business news in a 20-county area across Central Pennsylvania.  The publication was first issued in 1991 and has a circulation of more than 10,000 people.

Ginny Loaney Promoted to Land Development Group Manager

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Ginny LoaneyHerbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc. (HRG) is pleased to announce that Virginia Loaney has been promoted to Land Development Group Manager in our Pittsburgh office.

Loaney joined HRG in 2016 as a landscape architect and has 15 years of experience in the healthcare, education, recreation, government, commercial and residential markets.

In her new role as group manager, Loaney will take on additional supervisory and business development responsibilities, striving to expand the presence of HRG in the land development market and build lasting relationships with clients and teaming partners.

HRG Assistant Vice President Jim Feath says, “Ginny skillfully balances rigorous engineering standards with creativity and collaboration to achieve her client’s aspirations. She brings diverse stakeholders together to achieve the most complex goals, thanks to her outgoing, conscientious personality and brilliant, purposeful approach to planning and design.”

ABOUT HRG

Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc. (HRG) is a nationally ranked design firm providing civil engineering, surveying, and environmental services.  The firm was founded in Harrisburg in 1962 and has grown to employ more than 200 people in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.  For more information, please visit the website at www.hrg-inc.com.

Penn Hills Senior High School Named Outstanding High School Design

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HRG is proud to announce that Penn Hill Senior High School has been honored as an Outstanding High School Design by American School & University Magazine.  HRG served as the civil and site design engineer on this project alongside the architectural team at Architectural Innovations, LLC.

The 301,000 square foot facility seamlessly integrates technology into the classroom and incorporates many green design principles to help the school district lower its energy costs.

Because the new building was built on the same site as the existing building, HRG had to carefully phase the development of the site in order to avoid disrupting school activities.  Once the new building was complete, students were transitioned to that facility, the previous building was demolished, and site work began for athletic facilities and additional parking.

HRG’s project manager Jim Feath said, “It was an honor to work on this project and be a part of Architectural Innovations’ team.  We’re proud of the facility we were able to create together.”

American School & University Magazine assembles a distinguished panel of education administrators, facility professionals and architects to select the best in school and university designs from that year.  Penn Hills Senior High School was one of seven high schools across the United States cited by the panel as an Outstanding High School Design.

Congratulations to our partners at Architectural Innovations on this achievement!”

 

ABOUT HRG

Originally founded in 1962, HRG has grown to be a nationally ranked Top 500 Design Firm, providing civil engineering, surveying and environmental services to public and private sector clients. The 200-person employee-owned firm currently has office locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. For more information, please visit our website at www.hrg-inc.com.

Tourist Attraction & Engineering Landmark Recognized with ENR Mid-Atlantic Best Project Award

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The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources (DCNR) and Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc. (HRG) are pleased to announce that the Kinzua Sky Walk project, a tourist attraction and civil engineering landmark located in McKean County, Pa., was submitted for and recognized with Engineering News-Record’s (ENR) prestigious Mid-Atlantic’s Best Project award in the small projects under $10 million category. This annual award program honors the region’s “best achievements in design and construction.” The 2,000 foot long and 301 foot high Kinzua Viaduct was the longest and tallest railroad viaduct in the world when built in 1882, and eventually became registered as a national civil engineering historic landmark. Through a DCNR initiative, a 2002 inspection by HRG revealed deterioration to the tower columns and anchor system which made it susceptible to high winds. An emergency design-build rehabilitation project was implemented in 2003 but with only half of the structure repairs completed, the viaduct was struck by an F1 tornado on July 21, 2003 and the unrepaired portions of the structure collapsed. Overcoming accessibility and constructability challenges due to the project’s unique location, officials, contractors and a team of HRG’s engineers championed the restoration of the damaged structure to safely support pedestrian access and encourage increased tourism to the site. Now known as the “Kinzua Sky Walk”, a new and innovative element was introduced to the structure that involved a steel framed, octagon observation deck with a glass floor (similar to the Grand Canyon Sky Walk) at its center to permit viewing and observation of the support structure. “The six towers of the original viaduct have been restored, with the addition of a pedestrian walkway with a partial glass floor that extends out into the Kinzua Gorge,” DCNR Secretary Richard J. Allan said. “The idea to stabilize the structure came in to play soon after the tornado struck. Understanding that this is an important tourist attraction in McKean County, DCNR felt it was important to continue to tell the story of its history, construction and destruction and to invest in this signature destination within the Pennsylvania Wilds region.” “The circumstances and various challenges that arose throughout the duration of the project may have been unpredictable at times,” said Brian D. Emberg, P.E., Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer at HRG. “But the Kinzua Sky Walk rehabilitation and restoration project is representative of a true engineering landmark and piece of history for visitors and residents of this region, and we are particularly proud to have played a role in its successful completion.” The judging criteria for the award focused on overcoming significant challenges; adopting innovative approaches; executing exceptional design and craftsmanship, and maintaining safe sites. This one-of-a-kind project will be recognized in a special Mid-Atlantic edition of ENR in December 2012 and at a ceremony on December 11, 2012 in Baltimore, Md. In addition, the project now advances to a national ENR’s Best Project Competition. For more information and photographs on the Kinzua Sky Walk project, please click here.

 

ABOUT DCNR

Established on July 1, 1995, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is charged with maintaining 120 state parks; managing 2.2 million acres of state forest land; providing information on the state’s ecological and geologic resources; and establishing community conservation partnerships with grants and technical assistance to benefit rivers, trails, greenways, local parks and recreation, regional heritage parks, open space and natural areas. For more information visit www.dcnr.state.pa.us.

ABOUT HRG

Originally founded in 1962, HRG has grown to be a nationally ranked Top 500 Design Firm, providing civil engineering, surveying and environmental services to public and private sector clients. The 200-person employee-owned firm currently has office locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.