Our History

WT: FROM PAST TO FUTURE

WT has a proud history of evolving with changing times and seizing opportunities to help our clients shape built environments around the globe.

Our story begins with two quantity surveyors starting their practices on either side of the world: Terry Wolferstan in Australia in 1949 and Len Trower in the UK in 1951. Their paths converged in 1961 when Trower journeyed to Australia, met Wolferstan, and the two agreed to merge their businesses across the hemispheres. This partnership has grown into the WT we know today.

Since 1949, WT has partnered with clients to provide accurate, independent and trusted advice. Today, we’re a leading international cost management and advisory firm with 2,000+ people across 70+ offices — proud of our long, strong reputation and excited to lead our industry into the future.

GROWING IN AUSTRALIA AND THE UK

The reputation of Terry Wolferstan and his Australian colleague Denis Crisp soon spread beyond their original windowless, back-room office in Adelaide, and they opened a new office in Melbourne. Significant projects put them firmly on the Australian map, even expanding to Tasmania.

Meanwhile in the UK, Len Trower’s company was growing rapidly, and it wasn’t long before offices opened across England and Scotland. When Len had the idea of setting up a practice in Australia and ventured south to explore, the 1961 alliance was forged.

It was a defining moment in a pivotal year, which also included the opening of a new office in Sydney and our first steps into Asia.

TAKING ON THE WORLD

A prize airport project in Kuala Lumpur was just the first of many Asian opportunities. Operations in Malaysia were quickly followed by an office in Singapore, and by the 1970s we were also in Hong Kong.

By 1976, our rapidly expanding international firm became known collectively as WT Partnership.

Back in Australia, construction sector growth was strong and we opened a Perth office in 1966 to capitalise on the Western Australian mining boom. By the 1980s, WT was the premier quantity surveying practice in Australasia and added offices in Cairns, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Newcastle.

The ’80s was also boom time in the UK, and our European operations reached into Spain and Italy.

Recessions in the 1990s challenged the construction industry, but major airport projects in Asia and other large projects in Europe kept us thriving.

In 1992, WT started operations in Jakarta. Scandinavia came next, with WT & BK Partnership established in Sweden in 1994. In 1996 we entered mainland China, opening in Shanghai.

A NEW MILLENNIUM AND INTERNATIONAL GROWTH

The turn of the millennium saw a new generation of WT leaders building a strong, resilient business, adding more services, gaining new experience, and stretching even further across the continents.

In 2001, we embarked on a joint venture in New Zealand which has grown to offer a wide range of services from offices across the country.
We expanded to Vietnam in 2008 and soon expanded our Indonesian presence and opened an office in Malaysia.

The North American business began in 2010 with the establishment of WT’s presence in Mexico City. In 2015, WT won a landmark $1.3 billion public–private partnership project for the University of California – and has since expanded across the US and Canada.

We established a local team in India in 2015, and have since grown our presence in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi and Chennai.

Our latest stops on the global journey are the Middle East and South Africa. We opened offices in Abu Dhabi in 2018, in Cape Town and Durban in 2021, and Riyadh in 2024. Our Abu Dhabi office has grown quickly, working on local and international projects as far afield as Rwanda and Georgia.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

The future of WT is underpinned by investment in our people, our services and our processes. Across all regions, WT takes pride in a client-first approach and consistent results, delivered with integrity.

We continue to diversify and innovate, including service offerings across the full life cycle of building and infrastructure projects, leveraging the power of the latest digital technologies and tools to deliver even more accuracy, efficiency and insight to empower our clients to grow.