WELLESLEY COLLEGE

I. PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND BACKGROUND

Wellesley College seeks a proposal to provide comprehensive, historically- and environmentally- sensitive planning and management advisory services for its campus. It is intended that this plan will serve the College as a living document and decision making tool, providing explicit guidance for the restoration, use and management of the campus well into the future. The impetus for this undertaking is the report of the Landscape Visiting Committee that, at President Walsh's initiative, visited the campus in 1996 and recommended a series of actions to revitalize the campus to its intended Olmstead inspired design and condition.

The intent of this important undertaking is to restore and preserve the Olmstead inspired design and intent of the campus while addressing use and maintenance challenges that face the college now and may face the college in the future. While the focus of the effort is clearly on landscape and land use, the importance of the buildings as they are now situated (or should be in the future) and used within the landscape are important components of this work.

The College expects the results of this effort to:

1. Guide the future use of the campus;
2. Guide the placement of new facilities and additions to existing buildings;
3. Address pedestrian and vehicular circulation as well as parking placement, movement and management;
4. Provide design guidelines for future campus use of any type;
5. Recommend specific areas for preservation as learning resources for students;
6. Define and prioritize specific restoration needs;
7. Identify the financial resources necessary to implement recommendations;
8. Articulate a long term management program which will preserve and enhance the landscape;
9. Assist in capital program development for fund-raising purposes;
10. Set a framework within which to present specific projects for Board of Trustee's approval.

The plan encompasses Wellesley's main campus of approximately 500 acres including Lake Waban, its immediate owned surroundings including Nehoiden Golf Course and residential properties and an approximately 40 acre tract across Route 135, known as the "North Forty". The arboretum should be included in considering overall planning issues, but should be excluded from specific scope mapping requirements, such as specimen mapping. In addition, any other College holdings should be considered as strategic land assets but not be included in inventory portions of this undertaking. Campus surroundings and context should be evaluated with respect to community concerns and sensitivities, current and potential needs of the College, and the opportunity for collaborative efforts. A plan which identifies Wellesley's holdings is attached to this RFP.

The following outlines the scope in some detail. Wellesley expects to receive bids broken down by sections, as provided in Appendix A, as well as a not to exceed lump sum bid for this entire engagement effort. In preparing such bids, respondents should take into account the need to work closely with the College and its varying constituencies in developing this body of work. Specifically, the College intends for the selected firm to work closely with a special Committee representing the various constituencies of the College and to make all College presentations throughout the process as determined by the Committee. In addition, it is understood that the selected firm will need to draw upon internal resources for information through interviews. The Committee and selected firm will define together what interviews should be conducted.

Wellesley expects that work on this plan will commence by July 1, 1997, with a status report on findings before the September 18, 1997 Trustees Meeting and preliminary recommendations report to the Board of Trustees on January 29, 1998, followed by a final report and presentation on April 16, 1998. There should be a written report submitted one week prior to each of these meetings.

Any questions concerning this request for proposal should be directed to William Reed, Vice President for Finance and Administration at 617-283-2305. Five copies of the final proposal should be delivered no later than 12 noon on June 14, 1997. At our meeting on June 9, we would like to discuss with you how you would staff every component of this project.

II. BACKGROUND INFORMATION AVAILABLE

The College has the following information available for use by the selected consultant:

• Historical literature (the text "A Century of Women")
• Admissions literature
• Aerial photograph, flown in 1989
• Base campus plan on Drawbase
• Topographic survey
• Wetland delineation
• Paintmill Pond information
• Building inventory
• Floor plans on all buildings
• Space inventory
• Space plans/maintenance studies
• Strategic plan
• Capital improvement plan (5 year)
• Utility/infrastructure plans
• Historic studies on the use/development of the North Forty
• Parking surveys
• Environmental reports
• Information on summer programs
• Handicap Access study

III. SPECIFIC ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED

This section identifies some general questions which this engagement should address if it is to be responsive to the needs of College:

1. What is the extent of use, design and maintenance guidelines that should exist for the college as decision making tools? What should be flexible? What elements should be applied rigidly?
2. What vistas [of lake, tower(s)] must be restored? preserved? Include basic plans on how vistas are to be restored, such as the removal of specific trees, etc.
3. How should the College manage parking now and in the future? Pedestrian circulation? ADA issues? Options should be provided for paving materials, especially for pedestrian pathways.
4. Where are appropriate locations for future buildings (e.g., book repository, campus center) and athletic fields? What is the optimum building capacity of the main campus holdings? Other holdings? What changes, if any, would you make to the recommendations for use of the North Forty, pursuant to the Land Use study.
5. What campus uses most threaten the landscape and integrity of the campus ecosystem? Where? Are there ways to mitigate this over the long term? How?
6. What are the key challenges facing Wellesley today? What are the likely problems to be in ten, twenty and fifty years?
7. Does the campus define itself into a workable zone management approach for maintenance and restoration purposes? What manpower and financial resources are necessary to restore and maintain the campus landscape? Included should be the minimum number of personnel for each approach, types of positions and equipment required.
8. Are there strategically important land parcels not controlled by the College? Does the College own land that might be considered excess or unimportant?
9. What public policy issues, if any, are most likely to affect Wellesley's use (and associated cost) of its campus in the future? Are there prudent steps that can/should be taken to preserve rights/flexibility and minimize exposure?

IV. SCOPE OF SERVICES

1. The services can be categorized as follows:
2. Programmatic elements/space needs
3. Viewshed/Landscape and Infrastructure Issues
4. Pedestrian and vehicular circulation and parking
5. Environmental elements/Educational opportunities - campus as laboratory
6. Summary Plan Guidelines and Program for Restoration
7. Maintenance Program and Priorities
8. At the outset, acquire a thorough understanding of Wellesley's landscape history. Wellesley intends that its historical roots in the landscape shape its future.

A. PROGRAMMATIC ELEMENTS / SPACE NEEDS

1. Conduct a programmatic assessment of the use of existing space and buildings.

1. Provide an ADA analysis of existing facilities, especially those targeted for major renovations. Evaluate the landscape in terms of handicap accessibility issues. Provide creative solutions for accessibility uses.
2. Conduct a space needs assessment using comparative standards and an analysis of appropriateness of use.
3. Identify code-compliance issues.
4. Identify outdoor spaces by use (active recreation, circulation, etc.)

2. Evaluate future space needs for academic and residential programs and recommend a plan for the placement of new or substantially renovated/enlarged buildings or uses, including:

1. Campus Center
2. Boston Library Consortium-Cooperative Resource Center
3. Increasing the number of student dormitory rooms.
4. Increasing the number of faculty housing units
5. Other available and suitable areas for additional building development, consistent with historical intentions.
6. New athletic fields (3 new recreational/athletic fields (soccer sized)).

3. Identify any special areas of the campus which represent unique educational opportunities and should be preserved for that purpose, e.g., areas of the lake shoreline, specific pond locations, etc.).

4. Evaluate the adequacy of land holdings in the context of the capacity of landscape and future needs/opportunities.

B. VIEWSHED / LANDSCAPE AND LAND INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUES

1. Analyze the campus from a "viewshed" perspective. What must be preserved? Restored? What should be preserved? Restored?

2. Evaluate landscape needs and recommend priorities for restoration/attention. Provide itemized preliminary cost estimates for your recommendations. In preparing recommendations, include an evaluation of the College's current landscape plan and its major future renovation projects which affect the exterior environs of the buildings scheduled for improvement (i.e., handicapped access ramps, excavations, basic site disruption):

1. Severance
2. Stone-Davis Hall
3. Pendleton Hall East
4. Houghton Memorial Chapel
5. Green Hall

3. Prepare plans, perspectives, diagrams and photographs to make the case for needed improvements clear and compelling in visual terms.

4 How should the landscape be utilized? Constrained? Define:

1. Visual goals
2. Ecological priorities
3. Priorities to enhance vegetation health
4. Appropriate policies/guidelines for communications devices (satellite dishes, antennae), utility devices (transformers, hydrants etc.) and security measures.

5. Recommend a plan to organize land use by function: Park, meadow, woodland, "utility", active/passive recreation or other categories that may apply.

6. What are the campus program issues that most threaten the landscape? Consider present or potential infrastructure needs in your evaluation. What mitigating recommendations can you offer?

7. Provide Campus lighting solution to reduce glare and still give safe, pleasing light with the existing 9-foot lamp-posts.

8. Evaluate campus signage and recommend a new system and guidelines governing signage. Provide a schedule of priorities for implementation and related budgetary estimate.

C. PEDESTRIAN AND VEHICULAR CIRCULATION AND PARKING

1. Study vehicular and pedestrian circulation patterns, in the context of building utilization and safety, including off-path circulation, at different times of the day and at different times of the year. Of specific concern are Sage, Observatory, Gray Lot and the Hazard Quad, although all areas warrant study. Prepare CAD mapping of circulation systems.

2. Evaluate the roadway and pathway condition and paving as well as snow removal requirements.

3. Study present and future parking needs. Specifically, address creative alternatives to the present parking system, including but not limited to, structured parking, remote parking, and effective incentives to reduce parking demand.

4. Consider potential new program needs and integration of new facilities with circulation patterns.

5. Evaluate existing conditions and potentials for change in the context of viewsheds, topographic conditions, erosion and other environmental concerns.

6. Analyze present service access (garbage collection, building maintenance, snow removal, etc.)

7. Recommend any changes in circulation patterns, access and materials, along with priorities and an anticipated, itemized budget to implement the recommendations. Recommend programs for addressing parking needs along with cost estimates for alternatives.

D. ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENTS

1. Evaluate the landscape infrastructure, including areas of deterioration (e.g. erosion and compaction) and the above-ground and under drainage systems. Prepare CAD mapping which depicts campus drainage, wetlands and other important environmental features.

2. Identify and analyze those natural elements which would encourage or restrain development such as: soil type and properties, wetlands, steep slopes and ledges, natural hazards, streams, and ponds, etc. Identify current regulatory constraints (including zoning) on use of the campus. Identify changes that may occur which could affect the College's use of the campus.

3. Wellesley College will prepare a preliminary mapping of trees this summer. This map will be utilized by the master plan consultant in the final report.

E. SUMMARY PLAN, GUIDELINES AND PROGRAM FOR RESTORATION

1. Summarize a recommended comprehensive land use, restoration and management plan through a series of diagrams, plans and written guidelines. These are intended to be working documents that will serve as the principles guiding future use of the campus along with the list of priorities for restoration over a ten year implementation cycle. Itemized budgets to implement the restoration plan and identifiable elements of the use plan (e.g., parking) should accompany this summary.

2. These recommendations need to be cast, working with the President, Trustees, and the Office for Resources, into a visionary statement which integrates Wellesley's physical assets with its mission. The firm shall also assist the college in developing exciting and compelling "stories" to use in fund raising.

F. MAINTENANCE PROGRAM NEEDS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Define the maintenance tasks and recommended standards that should be followed to maintain the campus in excellent shape. The Golf Course is excluded from this study.

2. Examine current management practices and priorities and make recommendations for a maintenance system, schedule and staffing requirements, preferably using a zoned approach, if deemed prudent and feasible for Wellesley's holdings. Define the logical zoning management units for the campus, if you recommend this approach.

3. Define creative and feasible approaches to maintaining landscape in the face of constrained budgets.

V. PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

Wellesley wishes to involve its community in this very important and iterative process. The consultant selected will be expected not only to meet with the working committee on a regular basis, but will be expected to make community-wide presentations and presentations to the Board of Trustees.

Your response to this RFP should provide demonstration of your understanding of the scope of work and the qualifications and experience of your team to complete the elements defined. You must include the names, work addresses, telephone and FAX numbers of all personnel that will be working on this project (including sub-contractors), their role and anticipated time commitment to this project. The CV for each individual should be included in your proposal. In addition, please provide a list of other projects (and the nature of each) in which each individual is currently engaged or can be expected to be engaged during the term of this assignment.

Please provide a fee for services. The fee should be broken down by section as defined by the Scope of Work (IV, A through F), along with time frames expected to complete each element of the scope. For section B, please include separate fees for items 8 (lighting) and 9 (signage). A form attached as Appendix A provides an organized way of summarizing the fee proposal. It must be completed.

You will note that an upset fee for these services is required. This upset amount should include not only fees for all of the above services, but direct expenses. If you feel direct expenses are impossible to project, please provide a budget within which you believe you can perform along with your itemized costs for specific potential expenses. In preparing the budget estimate you should understand that any budget exceeding the one estimated may require further Trustee approval before it can be authorized.

Finally, please provide the rates of each individual on the team should we request additional services. These rates would be applicable throughout the term of an agreement which would expire no later than July 31, 1998.

If it is necessary to quantify client meetings or presentations within the context of your proposal, please do so, including which individuals will be present at meetings and presentations.

If there are items not included in this scope of work which you feel are essential or advisable, please include them along with a separate cost estimation for completion. If there are elements outlined in the RFP that you feel are not necessary, please note them along with the associated fees.

Wellesley reserves the right to choose portions or all of this proposal as presented for implementation by the submitting firm/team.

Finally, in 250 words or less please explain:

1. Your most striking attribute which differentiates your team/proposal.

2. Why Wellesley should select your firm/team.

Wellesley appreciates your interest in this important undertaking and looks forward to receiving your proposal on June 14.