Alastair (Aly) MacGregor has been named the executive business line leader for Property and Buildings at WSP USA, one of the nation’s largest engineering and professional services consultancies. MacGregor, who joins the firm from an international infrastructure consulting firm, assumed the role on June 1.
“Aly brings varied experience across digital innovation and transformation; sustainable, low carbon and high performance design; smart buildings; strategic portfolio energy and decarbonization programs; and more key areas that will help us deliver on our key strategic priorities in the U.S.,” said Lou Cornell, president and chief executive officer of WSP USA. “Aly will leverage this expertise to help us further the work our teams are already doing in these areas, bringing the full strength of our interdisciplinary offering to our clients to help them deliver on their ambitions.”
MacGregor, who is based in our Irvine, California office, succeeds Rick Rome, who has led WSP’s U.S. Property and Buildings business since 2020. Throughout his more than 36 years at WSP, Rome has held multiple roles with the company, leading Building Systems and as a key member of the U.S. and business line leadership teams. He will continue with WSP in a role focused on client development and integration of acquired firms.
“Rick has played a critical role in expanding our foothold in complex sector markets like healthcare, science + technology, mission critical and higher education, as well as in mentoring our next generation of leaders,” Cornell said. “We are grateful for his incredible contributions to our business thus far, and grateful that our clients, employees and colleagues from newly acquired firms will continue to benefit from his vast expertise.”
Prior to joining WSP, MacGregor held various leadership positions of increasing scope and responsibility over the past 25 years with an international infrastructure consulting firm. In his most recent role, he served as senior vice president directing the global tech and logistics market sector within the firm’s global buildings business. He previously led the firm’s teams for digital solutions and building engineering in the Americas.
His recent work has included support of client innovation via projects ranging from electric vehicle charging networks and advanced air mobility infrastructure to net zero carbon sports venues and the creation of new software as a service (SaaS) solutions. He was also the leader within the firm responsible for developing its integrated environmental, social and governance (ESG) design methodology for buildings, offering demonstrated multi-faceted whole-life performance benefits, including carbon, operational effectiveness and staff well-being.
“Aly’s varied experience in service of U.S. and global clients will be invaluable to our employees and clients,” said Tom Smith, global director, Property and Buildings for WSP. “We are excited to leverage his passion for creating innovative sustainable solutions and employing digital technology to enhance building performance in service of our work as we seek to help clients deliver more Future Ready® operations.”
MacGregor has also held roles with his previous firm leading high-performance building design, as well as technical excellence and innovation in North America.
He is a graduate with honors from the University of Newcastle, in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, and Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, with a master’s degree in building engineering services, engineering management.
MacGregor has presented at conferences including TedX, Greenbuild, the National Building Institute’s Better Buildings Summit, ASHRAE and the Energy Exchange Conference. He is a previous winner of the National Sustainability Award from the Construction Management Association of America, a FitWel Ambassador and LEED AP, and a two-time U.S. Patent awardee.
“I am excited to see how Aly uses his experience to build on the work we have done to date in Property and Buildings and support initiatives across the business,” Rome said. “Our clients are increasingly looking for digital-forward, resilient and sustainable solutions that add lasting value to our communities; Aly will have an incredible impact on nurturing our existing offerings and growing our talent in these areas, benefiting our employees and our clients.”
WSP USA’s Property and Buildings business is among the most versatile in the industry, with leading positions in engineering and specialty services for markets ranging from healthcare to super-tall residential high-rises, from science and technology to commercial offices, and from mission critical to hospitality. The group’s project history includes Manhattan’s One World Trade Center and 53W53; Dell Children’s Medical Center, the first hospital in the world to achieve LEED Platinum certification; laboratories that played key roles in the fight against COVID-19, including the Rocky Mountain Integrated Research Facility; LaGuardia Airport, the first airport in the world to achieve LEEDv4 Gold certification; and Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the first stadium in the world to achieve LEED Platinum certification.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Special Recognition: Triple Bridge Gateway, Port Authority Bus Terminal New York, N.Y.
Judges saw the Triple Bridge Gateway in Midtown Manhattan as more art installation than building project, but they were impressed at how the illuminated ramps and bridges—14 years in the making—turned an ugly intersection into something beautiful. The three bridges span 9th Avenue at the juncture where vehicles emerge from the Lincoln Tunnel heading to the Port Authority of New Yor...
| Aug 11, 2010
World's tallest all-wood residential structure opens in London
At nine stories, the Stadthaus apartment complex in East London is the world’s tallest residential structure constructed entirely in timber and one of the tallest all-wood buildings on the planet. The tower’s structural system consists of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels pieced together to form load-bearing walls and floors. Even the elevator and stair shafts are constructed of prefabricated CLT.
| Aug 11, 2010
Setting the Green Standard For Community Colleges
“Ohlone College Newark Campus Is the Greenest College in the World!” That bold statement was the official tagline of the festivities surrounding the August 2008 grand opening of Ohlone College's LEED Platinum Newark (Calif.) Center for Health Sciences and Technology. The 130,000-sf, $58 million community college facility stacks up against some of the greenest college buildings in th...
| Aug 11, 2010
School Project Offers Lessons in Construction Realities
Imagine this scenario: You're planning a $32.9 million project involving 112,000 sf of new construction and renovation work, and your job site is an active 32-acre junior-K-to-12 school campus bordered by well-heeled neighbors who are extremely concerned about construction noise and traffic. Add to that the fact that within 30 days of groundbreaking, the general contractor gets canned.
| Aug 11, 2010
CityCenter Takes Experience Design To New Heights
It's early June, in Las Vegas, which means it's very hot, and I am coming to the end of a hardhat tour of the $9.2 billion CityCenter development, a tour that began in the air-conditioned comfort of the project's immense sales center just off the famed Las Vegas Strip and ended on a rooftop overlooking the largest privately funded development in the U.
| Aug 11, 2010
University of Arizona College of Medicine
The hope was that a complete restoration and modernization would bring life back to three neoclassic beauties that formerly served as Phoenix Union High School—but time had not treated them kindly. Built in 1911, one year before Arizona became the country's 48th state, the historic high school buildings endured nearly a century of wear and tear and suffered major water damage and years of...
| Aug 11, 2010
Top of the rock—Observation deck at Rockefeller Center
Opened in 1933, the observation deck at Rockefeller Center was designed to evoke the elegant promenades found on the period's luxury transatlantic liners—only with views of the city's skyline instead of the ocean. In 1986 this cultural landmark was closed to the public and sat unused for almost two decades.
| Aug 11, 2010
200 Fillmore
Built in 1963, the 32,000-sf 200 Fillmore building in Denver housed office and retail in a drab, outdated, and energy-splurging shell—a “style” made doubly disastrous by 200 Fillmore's function as the backdrop for a popular public plaza and outdoor café called “The Beach.
| Aug 11, 2010
Integrated Project Delivery builds a brave, new BIM world
Three-dimensional information, such as that provided by building information modeling, allows all members of the Building Team to visualize the many components of a project and how they work together. BIM and other 3D tools convey the idea and intent of the designer to the entire Building Team and lay the groundwork for integrated project delivery.
| Aug 11, 2010
High Tech High International used to be a military facility
High Tech High International, reconstructed inside a 1952 Navy metal foundry training facility, incorporates the very latest in teaching technology with a centerpiece classroom known as the UN Theater, which is modeled after the UN chambers in New York. The interior space, which looks more like a hip advertising studio than a public high school, provides informal, flexible seating areas, abunda...
