Business View Caribbean, November/December 2018

48 49 reputation over the years for professionalism, in- tegrity, and quality service. Contractors are always happy to work on our projects because we pro- duce complete and detailed project information,” he states. “Our success is borne out by the com- ments of clients, contractors, and suppliers, alike. The clients primarily come to us because of our reputation - directly or by recommendation from past clients, real estate agents, contractors, and project managers. It’s a major factor that sepa- rates us from the rest.” Marshall admits that the Barbadian economy has been challenging for GSA over the last sev- eral years, and the company has kept active with projects on other islands to supplement local work. “The economy started declining in 2008, and hit rock bottom last year,” he notes. “There are still a lot of hurdles to get over before things really get moving again, but I’m confident that the economy will improve and we’ll have a bright fu- ture. There has already been an uptick in projects, now, going forward.” “Recognizing and grasping an opportunity ourselves on our all-around professional services.” Of particular note is the company’s commitment to the environment and the application of sus- tainable design principles in its projects. GSA is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and a number of its design professionals are LEED-ac- credited. “We are also committed to embracing the latest technologies in design software to stay ahead of the competition,” Marshall adds. “Here in Barba- dos, GSA is more technologically advanced than some international design firms in the utilization of BIM design workflows and IFC file transfer pro- tocols to facilitate seamless design team collabo- ration.” (BIM is an acronym for Building Informa- tion Modeling, a process of designing a building collaboratively using one coherent system of computer models rather than separate sets of drawings. IFC is an acronym for Industry Founda- tion Classes, a global standard for data exchange in the building industries.) Regarding GSA’s other competitive advantages, Marshall says that the company has “built a great GSA ARCHITECTURE & INTERIOR DESIGN Bruce, Michelle, Jeremy, and Christian One Welches