Firm leaves no stones left unturned

NATURAL RESOURCE: Robert C. Atwood, president/CEO of Resource Control Associates, founded his company 25 years ago. The company has provided consulting and engineering services for more than 50 municipalities in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. / PBN FILE PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
NATURAL RESOURCE: Robert C. Atwood, president/CEO of Resource Control Associates, founded his company 25 years ago. The company has provided consulting and engineering services for more than 50 municipalities in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. / PBN FILE PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Like many professionals, Robert C. Atwood enjoyed his work but had the desire to have his own business. “The company I was working for at the time wasn’t interested in pursuing the hazardous-waste world, so I started on my own,” he said.
Incorporated in 1986, Resource Control Associates Inc. is an environmental-and-engineering consulting company. Its staff offers many years of experience in environmental consulting, engineering design, remedial construction and brownfield redevelopment. It has performed a full range of environmental consulting and civil-engineering-design services for more than 50 municipalities and public authorities throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts, as well as several hundred private clients.
“We think of ourselves as a land-development company,” said Atwood, 64, president and CEO of Resource Control. “We have a civil-engineering group and an environmental-assessment-remediation group. A third activity we’ve been involved in over the last few years is referred to as forensics engineering. Most of those focus on insurance-claim investigations,” he said. In many of those cases, Atwood provides expert testimony or can work with an insurance company to help sort out details in a dispute.
As with most companies in the state, Resource Control felt the pressure of the Great Recession. Much of its work is oriented to real estate development, which in the end is reflected by construction. When building and development is weak, the company’s prospects soften as well. “A lot of businesses have been fighting [to make it] over the last few years,” he said. In the end Resource Control survived the worst of times without having to lay off a single staff member. “We kept our staff the same without having to cut back, or cut salary and benefits,” he said with pride. “We weathered it pretty well.”
Ever-diligent, Atwood is always looking for new opportunities. “Right now we are focused on developing the forensics component of our business,” he said. Forensic engineering, according to the National Academy of Forensic Engineers, is the application of engineering in matters which are in, or may possibly relate to, the legal system, inclusive of alternative dispute resolution. Engineers investigate and reconstruct failures in a variety of systems, often determining the cause and liability of an event as it moves toward, or into, the court. Another market he plans to become more involved in is energy. “I think it’s a market that has a lot of potential and value, alternative energy,” he said. “There are a variety of things that are going on that offer good prospects for the future as far as engineering services are concerned,” he said. “There’s a concern that if energy goes up or continues to maintain the high level that it is at, the economics for alternative energy sources becomes more attractive,” Atwood said, referring to solar, geothermal and wind energy sources.
Atwood takes great pride in Resource Control’s focus on good client service. They also focus heavily on the business considerations of their clients. “We try to be our client’s trusted adviser,” he said.
Armed with a team of civil and environmental engineers, hydrologists and technicians, the firm is ready to face almost any redevelopment challenge, including property that may have environmental uncertainties. That requires a team of Massachusetts-licensed site professionals, registered professional engineers, waste-treatment operators, asbestos licenses and 40-hour OSHA training of all staff.
Atwood said that for clients with little hazardous-material knowledge, the issues can become overwhelming. “There can be regulatory challenges and some insurance-coverage aspects can be complicated,” Atwood said.
Resource Control has worked on some significant projects. They inspected the deterioration of Cogswell Tower at Jenks Park in Central Falls, and after their analysis, designed a historically accurate restoration and provided engineering assistance during construction. At the University of Rhode Island Ryan Center in South Kingstown, the concrete plaza suffered from differential vertical movement. Resource Control undertook a study that focused on the soil and water table, then provided rehabilitation. At Dugway Bridge in South Kingstown, Resource Control paved a detailed inspection of the bridge’s abutments and piers for the town. •

COMPANY PROFILE
Resource Control
Associates Inc.

OWNER: Robert C. Atwood,
President and CEO
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Environmental
consulting and civil-engineering design services
LOCATION: 474 Broadway, Pawtucket
EMPLOYEES: 15
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1986
ANNUAL SALES: WND

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