A note from our CEO
LaBella is proud of its impact as a corporate citizen. Throughout our history, the success of our company can be traced back to our core values: Honesty and Integrity, Stewardship of Resources, Employee Leadership at all Levels, and Seeking Growth and Embracing Change. These values guide our decisions and actions, resulting in positive impacts.
LaBella’s role as a corporate citizen is grounded in our historic practices and our proactive approach to the future. We recognize that there is always room for improvement and that our responsibility as a corporate citizen is ever-evolving. Our expertise enables us to positively influence the well-being of the environment and the communities we serve. We view our work as a privilege that opens doors to growth. LaBella approaches this role with professionalism and accountability, producing results that make us and our partners proud.
In the following pages, we outline our responsibilities, actions, and goals in four key areas: People, Participation, Protection, and Principles. We explain our respect for our employees, aiming to build an engaged and energetic workforce (People). We describe our dedication to the communities where we operate, helping to create thriving communities (Participation). We highlight our commitment to addressing global climate issues through our expertise (Protection). Finally, we discuss our governance practices and ethics, which are essential to establishing meaningful relationships with our partners (Principles).
On behalf of the company’s entire leadership team and our Board of Directors, I am committed to ensuring responsibility and accountability in all our actions as corporate citizens. My sincerest thanks go to our employees and partners for the confidence you place in LaBella.
Steven P. Metzger Chief Executive Officer
Executive summary
When LaBella first embarked on the task of writing a corporate social responsibility report, many within the company asked, “How is this possible? Social responsibility is inherent in everything that we do.” Largely because of LaBella’s core values, social responsibility is indeed embedded in our internal practices, external relationships, and the very nature of our professional services. In the span of 45 years, LaBella has grown from a company of just a handful of employees to one of more than 1,800, with operations in 12 states and in Europe. In each stage of this growth, our corporate values have led to decisions that reflect social responsibility.
We embrace the notion that our expertise allows us the opportunity to positively influence the well-being of the environment and the communities in which we work.
Our values take shape in our actions, resulting in positive impacts.
Our role as a corporate citizen centers on four main categories.
To improve upon our dedication to employees, we have set tangible near-term goals within each category listed below.
NO. 1
People: Building Human Capital
LaBella cultivates a workplace that promotes wellness, leadership, and dedication among our employees. As a result, we build human capital in the sense that our employees are motivated, professional, and accountable for their responsibilities, creating a workplace that thrives and where people are happy.
N O. 2
Participation: Building Social Capital
LaBella looks outward to apply our influence, knowledge, and expertise to the communities in which we work and live. We participate in these communities through hands-on involvement in charitable work, philanthropic giving, and providing leadership and expertise to facilitate growth.
• Continuous improvement in safety, with reduction in injuries and vehicular incidents
• Develop metrics to monitor employees’ sense of inclusion at LaBella
• Expand reach of the Foundation into every region
• Increase LINC participation in every region
NO. 3
Protection: A Path to Sustainability
We challenge ourselves to act responsibly and proactively to address climate and environmental issues through our actions in both the workplace and our professional practices. The work we do and the practices we follow address the impacts of climate change and provide proactive solutions for a healthier climate going forward.
NO. 4
Principles: A Strong Business Model
LaBella adheres to a structure of practices and ethics that serves as a model for governance. Clients and communities trust that LaBella will lead ethically with sound judgment and management.
• Develop firm-wide Sustainability Plan
• Launch a pilot program to assess viability of EV use in 2024
• Continuous improvement in client feedback on quality
• Enhance Consolidated Management Plan for business continuity, to reflect footprint, and to meet international standards
We treat our role as a corporate citizen with professionalism and accountability, producing results of which we and our partners are very proud.
- Steve Metzger, CEO
Powered by People Workforce & Quality of Employee Life
Our Actions
Employee Ownership & Incentive Pay
LaBella is 100% employee-owned. Our employee owners (over 200 of them!) elect the Board of Directors and engage with Board-led committees and action teams. Ownership interest meetings are held annually and are open to all employees. The Board of Directors approves each purchase of equity to ensure that LaBella’s ownership meets the requirements of the state professional licensing boards in every state where LaBella practices.
Each year, LaBella’s Board of Directors sets a firm-wide revenue goal, which is then communicated to employees. When we exceed that goal, the excess is distributed to our employees in the form of 401(k) match and year-end incentive pay.
The fact that LaBella is an employee-owned company furthers our core value of stewardship of resources. Given their vested interest in the future of the firm, employees are incentivized to be accountable for the resources of the company and the processes by which we operate.
Employee Development & Investment
LaBella’s longevity is built on the “train your successor” mentality. At every level, LaBella’s leaders prioritize knowledge-sharing with the leaders of tomorrow. The firm has several formal training and certification programs that provide opportunities for professional and personal development.
Our impact at a glance
Propel Leadership Development Program
Employees who have at least five years of professional experience can apply to the Propel Leadership Development program. LaBella accepts a cohort of 16–18 students annually for a transformative program that combines training, coaching, and self-directed projects. Instructors are both internal and external professionals.
LaBella University & Customized Career Pathing
Being a good employer is essential to being a good community member. By focusing on our employee experience, we attract, retain, and develop talent, who in turn apply their skills for the betterment of others.
Our Impact Testimonial Progress point
LaBella’s new Learning Management System has impacts beyond employee development; it’s a powerful tool for compliance with regulatory training, creating additional positive impacts for governance initiatives.
LaBella University (LaBella U) offers trainings, workshops, guest speakers, and other educational opportunities for professional development. Professional licensure requires continuous education units (CEUs), but LaBella U seeks to offer more than the minimum standards for certification maintenance. In 2023, we launched a comprehensive Learning Management System that facilitates the creation of customized learning and development tracks for every employee. Supervisors and employees can build a course plan that emphasizes technical expertise, management and soft skills, or new software tools and technology. Many trainings are offered asynchronously to accommodate employees on hybrid or flexible schedules, and internal knowledge communities ensure that our organizational knowledge is captured and shared.
Tuition & Licensure Assistance
LaBella employees in good standing are eligible for financial assistance for secondary or post-secondary coursework. Reimbursement is also available for professional examination preparatory classes and exam fees.
Employee Engagement Programs & Assessment
LaBella regularly assesses employee satisfaction and solicits employee input for improvement. Over the past decade, LaBella has continuously participated in third-party workplace culture assessments, including local media and national certifications.
Achieving certification from Great Place to Work provides credentials that validate LaBella’s own belief in our exceptional culture. However, we also seek additional data to enable a culture of continuous improvement. Using Qualtrics, LaBella’s employee experience software, we perform one comprehensive employee engagement survey annually and regularly survey our employees to receive instant feedback following other corporate communications or milestones. This two-way communication is essential to retaining an engaged workforce.
Our intranet experience provides a myriad of two-way communication tools, including internal social networks, to promote internal collaboration and an active exchange of ideas.
Employee Wellness & Safety
Body, mind, and wallet—LaBella’s benefits support a holistic approach to employee health and wellness, creating the foundation for physical, mental, and financial well-being.
The work of our Wellness Committee is varied, inclusive, and innovative. Others have taken notice—we’ve received recognition for best-in-class workplace wellness programs from publications such as the Charlotte Business Journal and the Rochester Business Journal.
Our committee focuses on support for our employees in three broad categories: Body, Brain, and Belonging. We track our progress in these areas using our Wellness “passport.” For example, employees earn stamps for taking actions to help improve financial wellness (brain), taking a lunchtime walk (body), or attending a firm social event (belonging).
As LaBella’s work has diversified from strictly consulting services to a wide range of construction oversight and contracting services, our employee safety program has grown.
In addition to attention to training and regulatory compliance, our internal Corporate Safety Manager, Safety Leadership Team, and Safety Committee review procedures and policies and assess root causes and corrective actions to ensure we continually improve our practices.
Our fleet of vehicles also continues to grow, leading to a robust driver assessment and training program. We use electronic devices to track and record safe driving practices. Our fleet program includes regulatory requirements for our CDL drivers.
Our Safety Goal
Reduce the number of injuries by 5% and the number of vehicular incidents by 10% in calendar year 2024.
Employee Recognition
Our mantra is “what gets celebrated gets repeated.” LaBella employees have opportunities to earn public accolades and cash bonuses when their work is recognized for company culture and client service.
• Atta-Person awards allow supervisors to recognize team members that have gone above and beyond normal job duties with a cash bonus and company-wide recognition.
• Cheers for Peers provides a live feed on our intranet where employees can give a shout-out to their peers in appreciation of daily efforts.
• Marketing Pursuit gives employees the opportunity to earn cash and prizes for contributing to our marketing and business development initiatives.
• Safety Superstar recognizes employees who proactively build our safety culture.
Employee Satisfaction
LaBella strives to create a culture where our employees feel valued while we effectively accomplish our organizational goals. Each year, we conduct an anonymous survey to help better understand how we are doing and how we can grow and improve. Below is a snapshot of what our employees had to say in 2023.
Diversity & Inclusion
LaBella believes that diversity makes us stronger. Diverse design teams that reflect the communities we serve produce better project outcomes. Empathy is essential to our ability to design for others, and it allows us to create a culture that is genuinely inclusive. Our work on diversity and inclusion encompasses short-term initiatives with immediate impact and longer-term investments that plant seeds of change across our industry.
Examples of actions with immediate impact include the establishment of our Inclusion Council, which began the work of listening to, educating, and engaging with our larger workforce. The council has championed a number of initiatives, including changes to our employee handbook so
that it reflects inclusion, celebration of events that recognize diversity and history within and outside of the firm, and educational sessions on the importance of diversity and inclusion.
Inequities across our professions and their associated courses of study present challenges for the diversification of our workforce. LaBella is committed to engaging with industry partners, educators, and community leaders to eliminate barriers to entry into the profession and to promote advancement within it.
LaBella has undertaken significant outreach efforts to improve understanding of and access to our profession, specifically to focus on underrepresented populations.
Our efforts reflect our concern that the industry as a whole is challenged by statistical disparities across certain demographics and the lack of associated educational opportunities. To address these realities, LaBella engages in workshops with urban charter schools to introduce studies in architecture and engineering, participates in educational programs that are targeted at minority populations, and has decades of experience in the ACE Mentor Program of America for youth education. Our goal is to increase participation of this nature, both quantitatively and qualitatively, across all of our office locations.
Our diversity & inclusion GOAL
Develop metrics to monitor employees’ sense of inclusion at LaBella, with targeted initiatives to drive improvement.
Fostering Access to the Industry: Educational Programs
ACE Mentor Program of America Cleveland, OH Rochester, NY
Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Engineering Awareness for Minorities (BEAM)
Buffalo Museum of Science
Buffalo, NY Rochester, NY
Buffalo, NY
NY
Do Greater Charlotte Charlotte, NC
LaBella employees participate as organizers and mentors in a three-month after-school program focused on exposure to careers in architecture, engineering, and construction. LaBella provides meeting space and contributes a scholarship award at program end.
70
LaBella hosted a workshop on the design of a football stadium for students from the Buffalo Public Schools during a day at the Buffalo Bills Training Camp. 40
Through board membership and financial support, LaBella furthers the mission of BEAM—to build diversity in STEM fields by encouraging underrepresented students to consider a future in a STEM field.
225
LaBella volunteered time during Engineers Week, providing workshops to students in the principles of engineering. 1,040
Do Greater Charlotte is committed to the economic advancement of underprivileged populations through the creation of community centers that expose youth to a variety of professions. LaBella has provided financial support and intends to actively participate in the future through hands-on involvement. 1,000+
In 2024, LaBella is leading a two-week summer camp for high school students from urban schools, with workshops in architecture and engineering and site visits to project work.
15
Eugenio María de
Rochester Academy of Science
Rochester Museum & Science Center
NY
Broome County, NY
VA
NY
In advance of the 2024 solar eclipse, LaBella led a series of instructional sessions for youth, teaching them about the eclipse and the energy of the sun. 3,100
Together with other local firms, LaBella is a sponsor of BizTown, which instructs students in career development and financial management. LaBella's contribution pertains to an educational space for architecture and engineering. 4,000
LaBella established and led in-classroom introductory architecture and engineering workshops at charter schools, serving underprivileged students.
LaBella volunteered time during Engineers Week, providing workshops to students in the principles of engineering.
SPARK is an 8th-grade career exploration experience for students across Broome County. LaBella participated with students by helping them build a bridge using only construction paper. The integrity of their structures were tested by seeing how many pennies each bridge could hold.
LaBella employees engage in bringing Sustainability Matters’ flagship initiative, Making Trash Bloom, to landfills in Virginia. LaBella employees have also volunteered as mentors and served on a career panel for disadvantaged young girls.
LaBella hosts students who are interested in exploring a career in engineering. This 20-hour internship for high school students offers realworld experience in a career they are interested in.
LaBella instructed students at Eugenio María de Hostos Charter School in Rochester, NY, on engineering principles associated with tall structures. Here, the students build a tower as high and strong as possible using only newspaper and adhesive.
Pictured:
Powered by PARTICIPATION
Community Contributions
Our Actions
Shaping Communities With Our Expertise
Communities need a strong foundation to run smoothly. Our work ensures clean water to drink, safe roads on which to drive, places to park, bridges to cross, and trails to walk. Aging infrastructure is an issue challenging our communities that LaBella is helping to address from all angles. Before engineering begins, we start with grants and financing options. LaBella’s team works with communities to reveal resources and magnify their impact.
Prioritizing Education & Improving Access to Our Professions
As a professional organization, LaBella recognizes the great value of education and the critical role that it plays toward workforce development, growth within a community, and quality of life. Our employees experience the benefit of advanced degrees in higher education to build and maintain a professional career, and we understand that education is essential to the well-being of a community.
We also recognize that education can help remove barriers to entry and spark economic mobility among diverse populations that historically have been underrepresented in the professional design consulting industry. As set forth above, to do our part to address this issue, LaBella is committed to a number of educational programs in the communities where we work.
We also leverage our role in professional membership organizations to positively influence educational outcomes. As just one example of this work, LaBella employees serve on the Environmental Research & Education Foundation’s Research Council, which annually evaluates close to 100 technical research proposals related to innovation in sustainable waste management practices.
Engagement With Community Organizations
STATISTIC
In 2023, we prepared successful grant applications for a total of $750 million for various municipalities. Our goal is to increase that success by 5%.
STATISTIC
LaBella employees serve as members of the boards of directors of over 185 community organizations and trade associations.
LaBella’s ability to provide leadership and expertise extends well beyond the physical borders of our offices. We look for opportunities to play meaningful roles in community organizations where our skills, experience, and input can be of value. Our participation ranges from membership in economic development organizations and chambers of commerce to positions of board leadership with organizations that help foster growth or specific causes in a community. LaBella dedicates meaningful participation to business, community, and nonprofit organizations in a way that helps further the mission and initiatives of these organizations. Our role reinforces our core value of leadership at all levels, both within and outside of the company.
Projects That Impact Educational Outcomes
As an educational designer, LaBella’s work shapes educational outcomes. Through continuous research into the science of pedagogy, we aim to deliver projects that reflect changing curriculums. With a focus on immersive learning, integrated technology, and inclusivity and student choice, LaBelladesigned learning environments support instructors and students. LaBella has invested in substantive discussion about these topics. We have hosted free learning seminars for educators and administrators on these topics, with speakers such as renowned educator Dr. Robert Dillon and school security specialist Chris Barrow. Our design team also regularly attends and presents at conferences such as EDspaces, which features content and best practices from across the country. Working alongside strategic clients, we have toured and participated in Google for Education, and we strive to stay abreast of the impact of 1:1 technology curriculum. We care deeply about the programs that each institution has developed, and we seek ways to contribute to each educational mission.
Stewardship of Community Assets
At its heart, LaBella is a company that stems from creativity and shaping the environment around us to positively impact societal health. Not unlike the role that we play from a professional standpoint to create healthy and holistic environments, we understand the importance of arts, music, and other cultural institutions that bring richness to neighborhoods and geographies. LaBella proudly supports cultural assets in ways that range from board leadership positions in music and theater organizations and support of local festivals or individual events to corporate memberships in larger cultural institutions. In keeping with our value of stewardship of resources, LaBella recognizes that the cultural resources within a community contribute greatly to growth and vibrancy. We consider investments of time and money in such resources to be part of our role as a corporate citizen.
LaBella’s history of philanthropic giving is long and substantial. Knowing the importance of “giving back” to the communities in which we work and live and in which the firm continues to grow and thrive, LaBella supports initiatives that align with our core values or our business interests, as well as initiatives that we understand to be vital to the well-being of a community. Through financial support and hands-on participation in community work, LaBella plays a significant role as a corporate citizen.
The chart below illustrates our total spend in 2023 in various categories that align with our core values.
Total Spending By Category
Memberships in Community Organizations
Action Spotlight LaBella Partners With REJobs Program
Funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the City of Rochester’s Environmental Job Training Program (REJob) is one of 29 programs throughout the nation. Entering its eighth year, the goal of the program is to train disadvantaged individuals and place them in stable jobs in the environmental construction industry.
In addition to the positive impact this program has on the individuals that participate, the City of Rochester and surrounding areas benefit as well through community revitalization initiatives and brownfield cleanup projects.
LaBella is a proud sponsor of this highly successful job training and placement program. To date, REJob has graduated 148 individuals who have gone on to environmental careers with various employers throughout Rochester, including LaBella. In total, we currently employ seven graduates from the REJob program in our environmental division.
Our LINC GOAL
Increase employee LINC participation throughout our footprint.
LINC contributed $38,475 to various community organizations throughout the country and donated more than 1,400 manhours of volunteer time.
LaBella in the Community
LaBella’s commitment to community stems from its employees. LaBella in the Community (LINC) is an employee-led committee that promotes and supports volunteer service, fundraising, and philanthropy. Employees are encouraged to bring forward causes based on their own personal experiences and interests, and the committee responds with volunteers and funding. Through this process, employees are empowered to champion events and grow through these leadership opportunities. This process is completely isolated from business development interests; LINC supports employees and their causes directly. The work of LINC unites employees within the firm toward causes that improve lives, neighborhoods, and environments across LaBella’s geographic presence and beyond.
The
LaBella Foundation
In 2022, the company took the bold step to establish the LaBella Foundation as a specific means of further energizing our commitment to societal well-being. The Foundation supports creative solutions that positively impact a community, with a focus on causes such as research and education, stewardship of environmental resources, and strengthening of community relationships and assets. As an avenue to build long-term engagement, the Foundation underscores LaBella’s overall commitment to providing meaningful value to nonprofit organizations that align with the Foundation’s mission. Examples of the Foundation’s actions include long-term pledge agreements and engagement in educational activities at local science museums, scholarships at institutes of higher education as well as at the high school level, and support of a design collaboration between an institution of higher learning and middle school children for initiatives to improve the lives of special needs children.
Our foundation GOAL
Strive for impact by the Foundation in every region where LaBella works.
STATISTIC
As of 2024, the LaBella Foundation is committed to supporting 15 not-for-profit organizations for a total of approximately $90,000 in pledges.
Action Spotlight
Hispanic Heritage Cultural Institute
The corner of Niagara and Hudson streets on Buffalo’s west side is about to witness a cultural renaissance—the Hispanic Heritage Cultural Institute, a transformative project designed to showcase, celebrate, and share the arts, culture, and history of the region’s Hispanic community, representing nearly two dozen Latin American countries and distinctive cultures.
A testament to the collaborative spirit driving positive change, this cultural haven is made possible through a $5 million capital grant from Empire State Development and a $725,000 grant from the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council, along with additional support from the New York Power Authority.
LaBella was selected to design the new threestory, 37,400-square-foot cultural institute, the first of its kind in upstate New York. The key focus of the architectural design is to create a welcoming, contemporary, and sustainable facility infused with a Hispanic/Latino elegance. The conceptual exterior design images portray a mix of natural materials (i.e., stone, wood) enhanced by vibrant colors reminiscent of the Caribbean.
The façades are thoughtfully crafted with expansive glass sections to maximize natural light and inspire visual connections to internal activities, cultivating a sense of inclusivity.
From the 150-seat performing arts theater and the gallery highlighting local and national artists to the media center fostering the next generation of broadcasters and journalists, the interior of the new center is designed to be a dynamic, multifunctional space for cultural preservation, education, and community engagement. Tenant-leased space, including offices and conference rooms, has also been integrated throughout the building as a primary means of generating revenue to support economic sustainability.
The positive reception received during the conceptual design phase emphasizes the community’s excitement surrounding this monumental project. Upon completion, the cultural institute will serve as a central hub and a symbol of pride for Buffalo’s Hispanic population of approximately 45,000.
Buffalo Bills Training Camp
As an Official Corporate Partner of the Buffalo Bills, LaBella has showcased its expertise to inspire youth from Buffalo. In the summer of 2023, in collaboration with the Buffalo Bills, we hosted students from the Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) for an exciting day at the Buffalo Bills Training Camp. The visiting group consisted of 40 students from BPS who had the unique opportunity to observe the Bills in practice, partake in engaging activities, and complete a STEM-themed project guided by LaBella’s team. The STEM project challenged the students to employ engineering principles and scales of measurement to design a football field. The students were captivated by the electrifying atmosphere of the Bills’ training camp and had the privilege of interacting with some of their favorite players.
Action Spotlight
Historic Colored Musicians Club
LaBella Associates is leading the renovation and expansion of The Colored Musicians Club, located in the African American Heritage Corridor in Buffalo, NY. This historic establishment holds the distinction of being the sole continuously operating, all-Black-owned music venue in the United States. Over the years, The Colored Musicians Club has significantly contributed to the cultural tapestry of the City of Buffalo, enriching the lives of both musicians and members who have been part of its storied legacy. The Club stands as a testament to its dedication to preserving the history of jazz in Buffalo, fostering jazz education, and providing music instruction for the local community.
The project aims to restore the first-floor storefront and the entire second-floor club space while also constructing a two-story, 2,215-square-foot addition that will provide a
new handicapped-accessible main entrance that includes a reception and lobby area and an elevator. The second floor will feature a prominently projecting glass-walled flexible rehearsal and event space with two practice rooms and a lobby that connects to the existing building via an enclosed bridge. The existing building will continue to house the museum on the first floor and the club/bar/stage on the second floor.
The not-for-profit club is making these critical improvements with the help of a $2 million grant from Empire State Development’s $65 million East Side Corridor Economic Development Fund. Additionally, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York contributed $350,000 in funding for the project, reinforcing the collaborative effort to revitalize this cultural gem.
Constructed in 1910, The Colored Musicians Club gained prominence from 1934 to 1969, attracting well-known performers from across the nation. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2018.
LaBella is honored to play a pivotal role in this initiative, aligning with our commitment to corporate social responsibility and the enrichment of the cultural landscape. The restoration and expansion of The Colored Musicians Club symbolize not only a physical transformation but also a dedication to preserving the legacy of jazz and fostering community engagement for generations to come.
Our IMPACT at a Glance
Our History & Mission
LaBella was founded in 1978 as a civil and environmental engineering firm, serving client communities on the shores of Lake Ontario. Beginning in its early years, the firm provided clean water engineering solutions for these communities in accordance with the federal Clean Water Act. In witnessing firsthand the degradation of the Great Lakes freshwater ecosystem, LaBella became increasingly committed to the creation of clean water solutions for our town and village clients.
As the nation began to focus on new and urgent environmental and social needs with the federal hazardous waste and Superfund regulations of the 1980s, our business grew. The environmental health issues of the communities in which our employees lived and practiced influenced the course of LaBella’s growth. The heavy industrial Great Lakes steel, petrochemical, photographic, and automotive industries in our communities contributed to the degradation of our air and water quality. The discovery of Love Canal, the pollution of Onondaga Lake, and the Cuyahoga River fire all raised worldwide awareness of the anthropogenic degradation of the Great Lakes’ ecosystem.
These environmental events caused us to concentrate on stewardship efforts and build a consulting business centered around land recycling, water treatment, brownfield cleanup, and hazardous waste cleanup. We take great pride in these services, knowing that our expertise leads to results in which our drinking water is protected, our beaches are safe, and our air is breathable.
LaBella has continued to grow and evolve as a corporate environmental citizen. With this evolution and the climate challenges that are now facing the planet, we recognize that it is our responsibility to continue to provide our client partners and communities with our expertise in renewable energy, climate solutions, energy efficiency, and impactful solutions to achieve carbon neutrality.
Our Sustainable Actions
LaBella is headquartered in Rochester, New York and has a strong presence throughout the eastern and southeastern United States, and in certain locations in Europe. We have observed that, through policy and action, New York State seeks to become a climate leader. LaBella embraces this climate leadership. Our Board of Directors is committed to developing a Sustainability Plan in 2024 that meets key goals with respect to clean energy, carbon emissions, and other initiatives, and adopts these goals in all regions where we work.
We are developing a Sustainability Plan that is feasible across our footprint, includes the diverse practice areas and regions of our firm, and intends to foster an inclusive culture of sustainability throughout our organization.
Responsible Waste & Energy Reduction
LaBella is committed to recycling our electronic waste items, including computers, monitors, servers, network equipment, and other devices. We partner with e-waste collectors and recyclers to properly dispose of this waste. We follow state laws as they pertain to e-waste but also incorporate safe and responsible electronic recycling in areas where legislative requirements are lacking. We repurpose as much electronic equipment as possible. In addition, we partner with international organizations to repurpose equipment for students in countries that are in need of items such as laptops, desktops, and monitors.
LaBella has partnered with national suppliers to implement a paper shredding program throughout our office locations and an office supply management portal that includes a list of specific recycled and “green” products. The portal allows us to track our quantities, which we use to assess progress toward our future goals. We also have an initiative to reduce our use of print paper via print management software.
We like to think of ourselves as changemakers. Our employees are dedicated and passionate about their work and how it affects the environment. With a view toward reducing carbon emissions, our environmental goals include fleet electrification, procurement and vendor evaluation, and operational waste and energy reduction throughout all of our office locations.
Our environmental Goal
Our team is committed to developing a Sustainability Plan in calendar year 2024.
Our EV goal
Launch a pilot program to assess viability of EV use.
Our operational waste and energy reduction goals include the following:
• Increase the use of paper shredding bins throughout our office locations by 10% in 2024
• Increase our partnerships with organizations that repurpose electronic equipment and devices
• Increase our recycled and “green” product supply offerings and ordering by 10%
• Convert up to five pickup trucks to electric vehicles in 2024
• Start the implementation of print management software in 2024
LaBella and our employees participate in many organizations that lead and support environmental research and education, as well as responsible management of contaminants and waste. Examples of organizations include the Virginia Waste Management Board and the Environmental Research & Education Foundation.
Research, design, and implementation of reduced carbon-based energy solutions are paramount to the health of our ecosystems and our planet. As climate-conscious design professionals, LaBella looks to lead the way with renewable energy solutions. We design many distributed generation renewable energy projects and work with developers and utility companies to tie these clean energy generation projects into the grid. We also help host communities minimize the localized impacts of renewable energy projects with thoughtful planning and zoning approaches.
Our holistic approach to renewable energy and the infrastructure required to distribute it to the public touches all aspects of the renewable energy market. We are proud to design and deliver renewable projects and to help our utility clients redesign the power grid to deliver green energy to our communities. We embrace the
thoughtful exploration and development of all forms of reduced-carbon energy sources and have meaningful partnerships with geothermal, solar, wind, and hydropower energy producers.
As a firm that provides brownfield cleanup services and landfill solutions, we are leading the renewable energy industry by combining our environmental cleanup expertise with our renewable energy expertise. For example, we design renewable energy projects on closed landfills and brownfields, where, in many cases, we also provide closure and cleanup services. These projects accomplish multiple objectives, including the creation of contaminant-free property and the development of clean energy projects on these sites, which otherwise would be underutilized, blighted property.
Renewable Energy
Climate Resilience
As our climate begins to change at an accelerated pace, it is important that our communities not only mitigate these changes through reduced emissions but also proactively plan for the future by building climate resilience features. LaBella has the ability to explore solutions that mitigate existing conditions and that are proactive in nature to create climate resilience.
LaBella assists communities to address climate change through the visualization of future conditions, the development of engineering parameters based on future projections, the identification of vulnerabilities and opportunities in the community, and the use of nature-based and traditional engineering solutions to plan for the future. Our climate resilience team creates studies and designs that are feasible and incorporate the impacts of a project on the overall community and environment.
Our climate resilience work spans our footprint. It includes climate projections and the development of engineering design parameters, hazard mitigation planning, streambank and shoreline stabilization and restoration, green infrastructure siting and design, floodproofing and weather barrier assistance, and flood inundation modeling and mapping. LaBella rises to the task on resilience-focused projects—beginning with grant writers and engineers—to implement resilience and economic development initiatives.
Always an excellent level of service in resolving engineering/ contaminated land/flood risk issues.
– Maria Francké Planning
Sustainable Vertical Infrastructure
Sustainable and healthy building design positively impacts public health and occupant well-being, reduces operating costs, and adds value to the communities we call home. LaBella is developing programs geared toward the adoption of AIA 2030 as a goal to help our clients design buildings that are energy efficient, carbon conscious, and provide a healthy environment for their inhabitants.
Over 50 professionals at LaBella are LEED certified; many are also WELL certified in a range of building types. Our teams have designed numerous LEEDcertified buildings for various use cases focused on daylighting, air quality, energy efficiency, reclaimed site materials, and more. In addition, our Sustainability Committee serves as a resource for conceptual design, construction documents, and construction administration to ensure that sustainable project goals are met.
Electrification
With the use of improved energy efficiency and reduced carbon heating and cooling, LaBella assists forward-thinking communities and entities to advance their climate goals.
Our energy professionals are at the forefront of electrification and decarbonization, working alongside clients from multiple vertical markets to provide turnkey holistic energy solutions from project conception through commissioning. From low-income housing to investor-owned utilities, we consult with some of the nation’s most sophisticated agencies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make facilities more efficient. These projects include both the enhancement of existing energyconsuming equipment and the design of on-site energy generation.
Our architects and electrical engineers are also working with transportation authorities and school districts to evaluate reduced-emission transportation alternatives and design infrastructure to support these climate-friendly options. LaBella is focused on reduced-emission vehicles and transportation options internally and externally, and we are developing a program to bring electric vehicles into our business fleet.
Environmental Protection & Remediation
The protection and restoration of our natural resources are of the utmost importance to LaBella. Our environmental and remediation programs span the eastern United States and include brownfield
remediation, waterfront revitalization, petroleum cleanups, and more. LaBella works to restore impacted riparian and aquatic resources with the use of wetland and sound ecological designs to improve water quality, remove invasives, and restore native flora and fauna.
We also conduct many carbon reduction and carbon sequestration analyses to assess the impacts of various development sites and their effect on climate change. LaBella supports a full range of water and wastewater infrastructure needs. We assess problems, develop initial concepts, create solutions, and drive those solutions to commissioning. Our efforts lead to the availability of clean, contaminant-free water.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of thousands of compounds that are proven to damage human health. LaBella is at the forefront of investigating and providing treatment solutions for these emerging contaminants, often called “forever chemicals” due to their resiliency in the environment.
Action Spotlight
The City of Rochester’s Emerson Street Landfill Cleanup & Solar Development
The former Emerson Street landfill, located in the western part of the City of Rochester, encompasses 250 acres of land that is now occupied by commercial buildings, a high school, and a solar energy distributed generation facility.
Prior to redevelopment as a solar array, the land hosted active landfill operations in a workingclass neighborhood that, over time, changed to commercial and industrial use, primarily due to the effects that the landfill had on the residential character of the neighborhood.
The landfill was initially intended to be used as an ash landfill, but indiscriminate dumping resulted in the disposal of municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, and low-level radioactive waste. This disposal resulted in on-site and offsite contamination of groundwater and soil gas. In the early 1980s, the site was listed as a New York State Superfund site.
LaBella worked extensively with the City of Rochester for over 20 years to complete investigations, remediation, and redevelopment projects at the former landfill. Our role has included sub-slab vapor barrier design, installing chemically impervious storm sewers, building ventilation systems, groundwater treatment systems, and waste fill management plans.
Our evaluation also included the engineering controls needed to safely reuse and redevelop portions of the landfill for commercial purposes.
Iron foundry slag that was removed from a nearby riparian brownfield site was evaluated and approved for beneficial reuse to cap portions of the landfill and provide a stable base for redevelopment as a solar energy project.
Powered by Principles Economic Growth Through Ethical Enterprise
Our Actions
Structure & Governance
LaBella Associates, D.P.C. is an employee-owned Design Professional Corporation organized under the laws of New York State. Shares of outstanding stock are owned by licensed design professionals in proportions necessary to comply with the legal requirements of all states in which the firm practices. LaBella shareholders elect the firm’s Board of Directors, who provide strategic governance and oversight of the firm’s activities.
The Board of Directors
There are eleven members who serve on the Board of Directors of LaBella Associates, D.P.C. The Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chief Operating Officer are ex officio members of the Board. The remaining directors are elected by the shareholders to three-year terms in staggered, annual election cycles. As required by New York law, the Chair of the Board and more than 75% of the directors are New York licensed design professionals.
Officers
The corporate officers of LaBella Associates, D.P.C. include the Chair of the Board, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), President, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Secretary, and Treasurer. Additionally, Vice Presidents responsible for each of the design professions—Architecture, Engineering, Land Surveying, Landscape Architecture, and Geology—along with Vice Presidents of Program Management and Environmental Consulting and Construction, also serve as corporate officers. As required by New York law, the Chair of the Board, CEO, President, and more than 75% of all corporate officers are New York licensed design professionals. Furthermore, approximately 50 additional management vice presidents have authority to act on behalf of the company and to sign contracts.
Executive Leadership Team (ELT)
Members of the Executive Leadership Team include the firm’s CEO, President, CFO, COO, Senior and Regional Vice Presidents. The team meets bi-weekly to discuss the firm’s current affairs and make important strategic and operational decisions to enhance the company’s overall success.
Business Entities
LaBella Business Entity or Subsidiary Where/When Incorporated Description
LaBella Associates, D.P.C. New York / 1978 Parent Company
LaBella Engineering S.L.U. Spain/2013 Operating Company; Spain
LaBella Environmental, LLC New York / 2013 Subsurface drilling, environmental construction, etc.
LaBella Associates LTD United Kingdom / 2023 Operating Company; United Kingdom
Management Structure
LaBella operates with a “one company” mindset, which is evident in our management structure. Though the management of people and projects is divided into business units, we do not operate profit centers. This ensures that all LaBella employees are mutually invested in each other’s success, resulting in a better client experience. LaBella’s primary management structure is based on divisions, which, in most cases, are defined by technical expertise. In some cases, a division may be determined based on client or project type or market focus.
LaBella’s primary divisions are:
• Architecture
• Buildings Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Environmental
• Power Systems
• Program Management
• Transportation
• Waste & Recycling
As LaBella’s geographic footprint grew, we developed a secondary management structure to allow for managing employees, business development, and project execution based on physical geography. LaBella’s 30+ offices are divided into 7 regions, which are overseen by a regional management team in coordination with the division directors. Both regional and divisional leadership report to the executive team. Shared services departments, including accounting, legal, human resources, marketing, operations, and government affairs and community relations, are managed by directors that report to the executive team.
Corporate risk Management
Quality Management
Our professionals understand and work to uphold their oath of public service, applying their knowledge to the advancement and betterment of public health, safety, and welfare. LaBella’s Quality Management Program is built upon ISO 9001 principles to guide our processes and overall performance. The executive leadership team of LaBella is committed to a culture of continuous improvement for our business and our staff. We believe we can achieve our goals of sustained growth and success through outstanding service and deliverables to our clients while providing a rich learning environment with opportunities for growth for our staff. Our Quality Management Program embodies our core values, including honesty and integrity in all we do and stewardship of client and firm resources.
LaBella seeks to build quality into everything we do. We employ high standards in our communications, our resources and documentation, the education and training of our staff, and the manner in which we conduct our work. When it comes to our daily tasks, quality is always part of the process. We listen to our clients to ensure that a project design will achieve its objectives, and we work as a team to collectively and thoughtfully develop a design that meets applicable codes, standards, regulatory guidelines, and stakeholder requirements. In addition, LaBella’s strict adherence to quality means that our clients become educated in the resulting impact of design—a project that is delivered with the highest quality of design positively impacts behaviors.
Managing Compliance
LaBella works to maintain compliance with the rules and regulations of the governing bodies in which we work, that our clients require of us as vendors in their supply chains, and that keep our employees and business safe and secure. We provide our partners with vendor qualification policies and procedures that reflect the values, ethics, and reputation of our business. We have developed standards centered around education, training, detection, and enforcement of these policies and procedures. Criteria to measure our compliance include financial capacity, safety statistics, employee training, sustainability, social responsibility, legal governance, and overall data security.
Our quality goal
Continuous improvement in client feedback on quality.
Our management goal
Enhance Consolidated Management Plan for business continuity, to reflect footprint, and to meet international standards.
Cybersecurity
LaBella has developed several policies that define how we conduct ourselves when working with, transmitting, and storing our data, as well as that of our clients, subconsultants, and vendors. LaBella’s policies require users to adhere to best practices relating to overall security standards. Our information technology team issues annual training to all employees, conducts regular testing, and provides educational opportunities to enforce our policies.
Safety
The safety and health of our employees are of the utmost importance to LaBella. We strive to ensure that our working conditions promote safety and health for all staff. Employees are not required to perform job-related tasks that they consider unsafe. The company’s safety program complies with all applicable OSHA workplace safety and health requirements and maintains occupational safety and health standards that equal or exceed the best practices of the industries in which we practice. Through specific policies and practices, LaBella seeks to ensure that our employees, and those working with our employees, are safe.
LaBella’s commitment to a safe work culture includes ongoing training and assessment of staff competency for compliance with safe work practices, the development and communication of meaningful policies, and the provision of appropriate protective equipment. LaBella maintains an operating Safety Leadership Team comprised of senior staff as well as a Safety Committee comprised of management and employee representatives from all of our technical divisions. These committees and their members serve a vital role in observance of and communication with staff, as they develop safety procedures, provide support in the event of a safety incident, communicate policies and best practices, remove obstacles to incident prevention, and help evaluate the company’s efforts to achieve an incident-and-injury-free workplace.
STATISTIC
In our 2023 Employee Engagement survey, 95% of employees expressed confidence in our executive leadership team and Board of Directors.
Progress point
All new employees receive cybersecurity and security policy training upon hire, and all employees receive annual training.
Ethics Policies & Human Rights
In our treatment of our employees and partners, LaBella ensures that labor and employment practices related to human rights are upheld. Among other items, our policies and practices do not allow child labor and ensure anti-slavery and anti-harassment in our project contracts and subconsultant and subcontractor agreements.
Engagement With Economic Development Agencies
LaBella maintains well-established relationships with various economic development agencies in all of the regions in which we work. We recognize and support the importance of these organizations in driving development and workforce initiatives to spark and sustain growth. LaBella participates in such organizations in a proactive way, through membership, committee work, event attendance, and collaboration on specific projects. We are dedicated members of organizations such as The Business Council of New York State, the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, the Hudson Valley Economic Development Council, and the Saratoga Economic Development Corporation, to name just a handful. LaBella views organizations of this nature to be vital in coordinating efforts across business and community sectors. We look for opportunities to support these efforts in ways that make a measurable impact.
Action Spotlight
ETHIE Award & Recognition
Elevate Rochester is an organization dedicated to celebrating corporate ethics. A key activity of the organization is the ETHIE Award, which is a valuable tool to recognize and promote companies that do things the “right way.” The ETHIE Award is modeled on the American Business Ethics Award, which was founded in 1994 by the National Society of Financial Service Professionals.
The ETHIE Award recognizes businesses and organizations that strive to promote ethical principles in business. The crystal statuette presented to ETHIE Award recipients symbolizes the navigator’s and the architect’s compasses, the roots of ethics in the ancient world, strong ethical foundations, aspirations to high standards of business conduct, and the multifaceted nature of ethics in our daily lives. The 2022 ETHIE Awards were presented at an award ceremony to four Rochester area organizations, including LaBella. We are very proud to be a recipient of an award that demonstrates our dedication to our core values.
Awards & Accolades
At LaBella, being a certified Great Place to Work is just one of the many awards we are proud of. With more than 40 years of projects under our belt, we’ve climbed national and local lists that acknowledge our work. But it’s not just firm awards that we’re proud of; it’s our employees, who are repeatedly acknowledged for their industry expertise, philanthropy, volunteer efforts, and more. Pictured are just a few of the titles we’re honored to carry.
