“Are you serious? You're taking the entire firm to England?” We’ve gotten that question quite a bit as news has spread of our upcoming “field trip.”

Yep, dwg. is celebrating our ten-year anniversary (albeit two years delayed thanks to COVID) across the pond. All 37 of us are headed to the U.K. June 11-18 for a week of new perspectives, culture, fun, and, most important, in celebration of a decade+ of hard work and accomplishments for everyone at dwg.! We have dubbed it “England 2020 (+2).”

For me, personally, landscape architecture is the culmination of celebrating, perceiving and engaging within the public realm, the built environment, nature — all through a lens that is focused by the places, cultures, and experiences around us. England 2020(+2) is about broadening perspectives and experiences for the entire dwg. family. It will be a one-of-a-kind celebration of the talent, hard work, successes and culture of the firm. It is a way for us to take a pause from the hustle and bustle of our typical work days, and to celebrate ten+ years together in a unique and very dwg.-like way.

It was important for our Managing Principal (and my longtime friend) Eric Schultz and I to plan a unique way to celebrate this milestone anniversary through the lens into what makes me tick — to share with the rest of the dwg. family a bit more about my personal family, where I come from, the impact it all had on my career, and how that led to dwg. becoming dwg. And since Eric is from Arizona, taking the firm to the UK seemed like a much more fun way to celebrate — no offense to Arizona!

In advance of us leaving, I want to thank our amazing clients, colleagues, partners and consultants for helping make this possible. Without your trust and belief in us, none of this would be possible. You have enabled dwg. to grow and to assemble a group of wickedly talented individuals that has grown from literally starting on a dining room table to a 37-person firm having worked all over the world.

I also want to thank you for being patient and understanding as dwg. undertakes this celebratory adventure. Please be assured we have worked very hard to coordinate and execute plans that ensure there is no lapse in our ability to hit the deadlines with the same attention to detail and excellence as you have come to expect from us. While we are out of the office, we are not out of communication, and if ultimately needed, we are a (6-hour ahead) email or phone call away.

We have also not taken our carbon footprint lightly. For the last three years, we have been planning and understanding how to offset the impact our jaunt across the pond will have. This excursion represents an important milestone in our environmental policy. We strive to make every project as sustainable as possible, reducing impact on resources and aspiring to be carbon neutral.

To that end, in 2020, we started a partnership with TreeFolks to utilize their Carbon+ Credit program to not only fully offset the carbon produced from this trip, but to offset the carbon footprint of the entire firm each year moving forward. We have made a commitment to plant hundreds of trees over the next ten years, improve communities such as Community First! Village and continually reduce our carbon footprint towards net zero.

As the Founder and President, and the first employee sitting around that aforementioned dining room table, I cannot wait for the firm to start this adventure. To see new places. To see the cloth I was cut from. To have this shared experience. To ultimately further strengthen the bond and culture of our stellar team. And perhaps most important, to bring back the enthusiasm and excitement of seeing something different and new. I am certain it will have a positive impact on our work moving forward.

To find out what we are up to, please follow us on Instagram @studiodwg. We look forward to sharing our stories with you, and as I have been known to say, “Onwards and upwards!”

Sincerely,

Daniel Woodroffe, President + Founder