 RWDI's Global Head Office in Guelph, Canada | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Engineering and constructionconsulting,environmental consulting,professional services,urban planning |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Headquarters | 600 Southgate Drive Guelph,Ontario N1G 4P6 |
Key people | Mike Soligo, President |
Number of employees | ~800 (2023) |
| Subsidiaries | Motioneering, Orbital Stack, ParticleOne, RWDI Ventures |
| Website | rwdi |
Established in 1972,Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin Inc. (RWDI) is a Canadian engineering consulting firm that specializes inwind engineering andenvironmental engineering.[1] The RWDI group of companies has offices inCanada,USA,United Kingdom,India,China,Singapore,Hong Kong,Malaysia, andAustralia. The company's headquarters is based inGuelph,Ontario, Canada.[2]
RWDI has featured on numerous television documentaries involving wind engineering and related services for the world's tallest skyscrapers and landmark structures.[3] The firm's facilities include five boundary-layer wind tunnels, an open channel water flume,MM5 computer models for simulating atmospheric weather conditions, and advanced computer modelling capabilities, including computational fluid dynamics (CFD).[3] The company created asoftware-as-a-service, web-based platform called Orbital Stack, a flow visualization model simulator that allows designers and engineers to rapidly iterate on their designs while seeing the microclimate impact on a 3D viewer.[4]
RWDI also has in-house model shops at each of itswind tunnel facilities that use stereolithography technology, integrated data acquisition, storage and processing systems, computer-aided drafting, and a broad base of specialized instrumentation.[5] The firm has conductedwind engineering on projects including theLondon Millennium Bridge,International Commerce Centre in Hong Kong,Petronas Towers in Malaysia,Freedom Tower on the WTC Site, the second span of theTacoma Narrows Bridge,Taipei 101 Tower, and the mega-skyscraperBurj Khalifa, currently the world's tallest building.[1] The company conducts climate and performance engineering in many areas, includingenvironmental noise and air quality modeling,building science and enclosures,acoustics,geoscience,sustainability and energy modeling, as well asweather forecasting andmeteorology services.[3]
RWDI currently has Platinum Club status as part of Canada's Best Managed Companies.[6]
RWDI started with snow accumulation and drifting studies for Southern Ontario’s farming community.[3] Frank Theakston, a professor at theUniversity of Guelph in theOntario Agricultural College,[7] developed a technique to simulate ground-level winds and drifting snow using an open-channel water flume.[3][8] Bill Rowan, one of RWDI's founders, worked with Theakston and marketed the technique to local architectural firms. TheCanadian government eventually included it in design standards.[9]
In 1974, Colin Williams joined to work on the water flume. Anton Davies led the building of the firstwind tunnel in 1978,[10] and Peter Irwin joined in 1980 to further develop the firm's wind engineering capabilities.[11] In 1982, the firm became a branch of Morrison Hershfield.[9]
After projects including Toronto'sSkyDome (1985)[12] and the Wind-gate in Buffalo (1984),[8] the founding members wanted to establish their own firm. Thus, Bill Rowan, Colin Williams, Anton Davies, and Peter Irwin formed Rowan Williams Davies and Irwin (RWDI).[9] Bill Rowan was its first President.[13]
Launched as the first RWDI spinoff company:
Launched under the RWDI Ventures Incubator:[18]
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