The University Lakes Project Management Committee has awarded a contract to Sevenson Environmental Services Inc. Sevenson will work with the project master designer, Sasaki Associates Inc., and flood risk reduction designer, Stantec Consulting Services Inc., to finalize design and develop a guaranteed maximum price for the first phase of work, including flood risk reduction and mobility improvements.
The first phase of the University Lakes Project is fully funded, and advance work is expected to begin late summer.
Sevenson was selected as the Construction Manager at Risk based on its response to a public request for proposals to initiate the restoration of the six lakes surrounding the LSU campus: City Park Lake, Erie Lake, College Lake, Campus Lake, University Lake and Lake Crest. The RFP was issued Dec. 27, 2021, with a response deadline of Jan. 31, 2022. In addition to Sevenson, Five-S Group LLC and The Lemoine Company LLC submitted responses for consideration.
On Feb. 21, a Selection Review Committee comprising representatives of each project partner and relevant professionals reviewed and scored proposals submitted by the three firms and made a recommendation to the University Lakes Project Management Committee, which then made the final selection for the flood risk reduction CMAR contractor procurement.
The coalition that was formed to restore the lakes includes the State of Louisiana, the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge, BREC, LSU and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. The University Lakes Project is being implemented by University Lakes LLC, which was established by the LSU Real Estate and Facilities Foundation, an affiliate of the LSU Foundation.
Materials from all three responders to the RFP and the evaluation team’s scoring of these responses are available below, and updates on the progress of the University Lakes Project will continue to be released publicly.