VENTURES

in the forestry and oil and gas sectors. In
2010, it acquired and amalgamated Quaternary
Consultants in Winnipeg, which
became the company’s office in that city.
At the same time, Western Heritage consolidated
the entire range of its services
under one name. Today, Western Heritage
focuses on archaeology and heritage
management, geomatics, geotechnical
solutions, community engagement, and
imagery and software sales. It works in a
variety of areas, including mining, oil and
gas, forestry, infrastructure, community
engagement (First Nations/Métis and other
indigenous communities), land use, transportation
and urban development.
Josh Glew, Business Development Manager
for Western Heritage, said the goal
over the past couple of years has been to
make to make the company a “more efficient
and smarter animal.”
“Just growing bigger isn’t always the best
strategy internally or in terms of providing
value to your customers,” he said. “Instead
of having a large, expensive office set up
in every market we serve, we’ll use smaller
remote offices in the winter when there’s
no work in that area.”
By being more resourceful, the company
has found it’s better equipped to meet clients’
needs, even when the industry is experiencing
a difficult time. A lot of the company’s
clients are in the resource industry
and have been impacted by the decline in
prices for oil and mining commodities.
“The days of everyone wildly spending
in the oil and gas industry are over. Therefore,
we’re always looking at ways to bring
down costs,” said Glew. “One of the specialized
services we offer in the geomatics
area includes an environmental footprint
monitor. Our technology allows us to look
at reclamation areas, any project where environmental
health is important, and get a
lot of information to management without
having to go through expensive ground
testing and sending in ground crews.”
Western Heritage
is incorporated
in Ontario,
Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British
Columbia and delivers value to clients
around the world. In the past, the company
has worked in Southeast Asia teaching best
practices for cultural resource management.
Recently, the company decided to focus
on expanding its service to Chile. The company
tentatively opened an office: Western
Heritage SpA. Glew explained that STEP
has helped significantly with this process.
“We originally went to Chile a few years
ago on a STEP trade mission, and we went
down a second time when STEP was there.”
Glew said. “STEP was so helpful in introducing
us to the market and helping us meet
the right contacts in government and the
private sector. We recently shared booth
space with STEP at a trade show in Chile,
which has helped us continue our relationship
development with the locals.”
SUMMER 2016 • GLOBALVENTURES 35