Photos courtesy of Hurt & Proffitt
As major local organizations have experienced growth over the past few decades, the landscape of the Lynchburg community has been transformed. While we may solely associate many of these expansions with the giants of local industry, several additional entities are also contributing as they work behind the scenes to see these projects to fruition. One of these key players is Hurt & Proffitt (H&P), a local engineering & surveying firm with deep roots in the Lynchburg community.
H&P is equipped to take on a diverse range of projects from start to finish. While civil engineering and surveying are two of the main services, the firm also has skilled teams that specialize in land development, geotechnical engineering, construction testing and inspection, environmental services and cultural resource management.
H&P was founded in 1973 when engineer Charles F. Hurt & Associates joined forces with Erskine Proffitt, a surveyer. The two had already developed a solid working relationship in the community, so the team-up was a natural fit. The firm has been headquartered at 2524 Langhorne Road since the beginning and now has additional offices in Roanoke, Norfolk and Wytheville.
Over the decades, H&P has been a major contributor to some of the area’s most notable projects. This includes all of Centra Health’s major expansions over the last ten plus years, the Wyndhurst development and major construction projects on Liberty’s campus such as the recently built parking garage and softball stadium. H&P has also worked extensively with the Virginia Department of Transportation, American Electric Power, Central Virginia Community College and many others.
But H&P doesn’t tackle just large projects. According to H&P President Bif Johnson, the firm will do anything from a one-acre development all the way up to hundreds of acres of development. H&P even helps municipals secure funding for their projects. Johnson estimates that H&P has done far more than $70 million in municipal capital improvement projects for small localities over the past five years.
Though some companies might specialize in one area of civil engineering, like water and wastewater or transportation, H&P runs the gamut, offering services across the spectrum. So while one H&P group may be working on a site plan for a new restaurant, another could be testing an old building for asbestos or lead contamination and the cultural resource team might be helping a developer determine the historical value of a property by testing fragments at an off-site lab on Sweetbriar College’s campus.
Johnson explained that having teams specialize in certain areas helps them to better understand the stringent regulations – both local and state – associated with that type of work. They also maintain strong relationships with the agencies that review and approve projects, helping them better understand the expectations in order to more efficiently see their clients’ needs through.
H&P is prepared to take any project from beginning to end. The firm’s level of commitment and quality has led to it being entrusted with many ventures with important implications. Error when it comes to asbestos or lead contamination, for example, could put lives at risk. In cases when contamination is found, the firm will draw up a remediation plan to ensure workers are remaining safe.
This precision and care is taken into each project because the magnitude of the projects, and their implications on the community, is not lost on H&P workers.
“Everything we do touches somebody’s life, in some way shape or form,” Johnson said. “And it is not just a life safety issue, it is also a quality of life matter that we deal with on a regular basis.”
Life safety could mean anything from making sure a bridge is constructed well to ensuring soil is laid properly as a foundation is built. Quality of life, Johnson explained, could pertain to a transportation project, such as a new road that cuts down on travel time or an improvement on an intersection to facilitate more efficient travel.
Johnson explained that H&P and its workers take pride in helping to make the community better.
“The last 30 years have seen a tremendous amount of growth in the Lynchburg community. All of the entities that we have had a privilege to be able to be involved with have been key players in that development and in that growth,” he said. “There is no greater feeling than to be able to drive through the community and to see something that you and the people you work with have had a hand in making happen. It gives you a great sense of pride.”
Ultimately, this is because H&P is embedded in the Lynchburg community; it is where it began and where it, and much of its staff, continues to call home.
“We are all very much a part of this community, and very proud of it,” Johnson—who attended E.C. Glass High School (across the street from his current office) before going to Virginia Tech—said. “We feel like a part of our presence here is to be able to give back. That has been a part of who we are since Day One and that is still very much a part of who we are today.”
This sentiment extends well beyond projects that impact citizen’s safety or quality of life. As an organization, H&P gives back to a number of local nonprofits and charitable causes, and its employees are involved in the community in many ways such as serving on local or state boards, volunteering and more.
With offices in three other locations across the commonwealth, H&P’s body of work has spread beyond Region 2000. Certainly the firm’s heart is still nestled strongly in Lynchburg, but this growth reflects the quality of work done by H&P employees and the relationships they have built over the years. Its employees have certifications in Virginia as well as all of its contiguous states: North Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
“The reason we are in those states is because clients that we started with here in Virginia—even some locally here in Lynchburg—wanted us to do work for them in those other states,” Johnson explained. “It is a testament to the services that we have provided our clients because they have wanted us to travel with them.”H&P always welcomes new clients, though about 85 percent of its work comes from returning clients—affirming the confidence they have in the firm’s services.
Learn more at www.HandP.com.
