A Love Letter to the AEC Industry: Embracing Change, Celebrating You

A (Love) Letter from the Editor

By Luke Carothers, Editor-in-Chief

February 2025

This letter is meant to express my tremendous affection for and gratitude to you, our audience.  And, frankly, it’s about time we got around to telling you how much you mean to us.  You have been with us from the start, back when we were a collection of print magazines about different sections of the AEC industry.  You have continued your support through all the changes that inevitably come in the passage of time, and we are endlessly honored and grateful.  

Change is a complex word.  Among thousands and thousands of words in the English language, few contain its depth and breadth.  Change has a power unlike almost any word, and, as a concept, it elicits emotional responses ranging from joy and enthusiasm to fear and apprehension.

The AEC industry is the industry of change in many ways.  There is no shortage of specializations and tasks that make up the complex mosaic of work within the vast umbrella of our industry.  What unites these specializations and tasks, however, is a shared charge or task—building and maintaining the built environment.  As a function of this shared task, we are responsible for altering and expanding the built environment to accommodate for the way people socialize, work, relax, move, eat, sleep, exercise and everything in between.  

This is the reason change has always been at the heart of operations for Civil+Structural Engineer Media, and this has allowed us to expand our platform many times over our long history.  In many ways, these changes reflect a shift in the way projects are completed and content is consumed.  This history started more than twenty years ago when Zweig Group  (then Zweig-White) acquired several industry publications and began their content publication platform.  Over the years, the AEC industry grew more and more interconnected.  Our response was to change the scope and focus of our publications, eventually merging the three most popular magazines into Civil+Structural Engineer Magazine.  In 2016, we took our first steps into the digital world and began publishing content online while continuing as a print publication.  In 2019, we took the digital leap, and Civil+Structural Engineer Media was born.

While we have adapted our content to fit the needs of a changing world, our mission to Elevate the Industry has always remained the same.  Our ability to adapt and evolve our content is a major reason for our continued success.  Starting this year, we are embarking on the next evolution of our content.  We have always worked to bring our readers the best of the best from every corner of the AEC industry.  As a part of Zweig Group, there’s no better place to start than our awards program  Our new platform—the Zweig List–aligns us with the spirit of celebration.

Over the course of this year, you will see periodic updates introducing you to the Zweig List brand, website, and content.  Among the first things you will notice will be a shift in our content focus from Channels to Pillars.  Realigning our content around three pillars—People, Projects, and Practice—allows us to both maintain the standard of content you’ve come to expect and give you access to an even wider cross section of the AEC industry.  These three pillars form a strong foundation for success in the AEC industry and are reflective of an industry that’s more interconnected than ever.  In essence, these three pillars allow us to bridge the gap between the boardroom and the building site—connecting the way firms are run, the work we do, and the people that do it.

Our goal is to better serve you, and to celebrate our love for the AEC industry.  Change may be inevitable, but we are thankful for an audience and industry worth celebrating.  We are excited to have you by our side, and we look forward to continuing our commitment to Elevate the AEC Industry under our new Zweig List brand.