AKRF’s greatest asset: Different disciplines working side by side to deliver successful outcomes for complex projects

Lisa Lau, AICP, a senior vice president in AKRF’s planning group and Deborah Shapiro, QEP, a senior technical director in AKRF’s site assessment and remediation group collaborate
for another project.

New York, NY For their two decades worth of work with affordable housing projects in the city, the biggest reward for both AKRF planner Lisa Lau, AICP, and AKRF environmental scientist Deborah Shapiro, QEP, is seeing a neighborhood revitalized.

Affordable housing has been a major focus of the de Blasio administration, with programs that have included reforming codes and regulations to unlock development opportunities as well as creating affordable housing on underutilized public sites. An environmental, planning, and engineering firm with 35 years of experience in the cty, AKRF has played a major role in helping developers meet the administration’s goals, and Lau and Shapiro have helped lead the way for the firm’s efforts—from different directions.

Lau, a senior vice president in AKRF’s planning group, has led environmental assessments for some of the most ambitious projects in the city. She has specialized in environmental review under CEQR, SEQRA, or NEPA for affordable housing projects.

Shapiro, a senior technical director in AKRF’s site assessment and remediation group, has managed the investigation and remediation of sites throughout the New York metropolitan area. Shapiro often advances affordable housing projects on underutilized brownfield sites—land previously used for industrial purposes—through the requirements of state or city Brownfield Cleanup Programs, while helping developers discover these programs’ financial benefits.

In working with each other, Lau and Shapiro have exemplified AKRF’s greatest asset—environmental professionals from different disciplines working side by side to deliver successful outcomes for complex projects. For affordable housing projects in particular, AKRF draws from its deep resources of experts in geotechnical engineering, civil engineering, air quality, cultural resources, acoustics, and financial feasibility and market studies.

Lau and Shapiro, along their colleagues at AKRF, have collaborated extensively with developers and public agencies to move the development and preservation of these affordable housing projects forward. Teaming up for projects such as Lexington Gardens, 407-415 Lenox Ave., and 225 West 140^th St., Lau, Shapiro, and the rest of the firm have been able to witness the transformation of neighborhoods in Harlem, South Bronx, and elsewhere.