UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO PROFILE
For more than 50 years, the University of Waterloo (Waterloo) has redefined university education as vital, transformative, and relevant, as an institution uniquely positioned to drive change at the intersection of academia, industry and society. Dedicated to entrepreneurship, Waterloo’s distinct ecosystem is built around a creator-owned intellectual property policy that attracts top students and faculty with a shared passion for turning ideas into impact. Defined by transformational research, Waterloo inspires the technologies and concepts that change the way we live, work, play and communicate. Driven by world-leading experiential and experience based learning, this institution produces outstanding and immediately employable graduates, imbued with the confidence and competence they need to lead.
The University of Waterloo Strategic Plan will create a differentiated university for the province and the country, one that offers a unique experiential learning experience for every student; one that focuses on entrepreneurship to create new companies, new jobs, even new industries; one that manages for global excellence; one that will be a world leader in select and pivotal areas of research with strong research foundations throughout. This plan reflects pride in all Waterloo has accomplished and aspirations for what can be achieved. On the collective strength of its stakeholders, Waterloo can and will lead Canada’s innovation agenda, redefining higher education for this country and the world.
Waterloo is one of Canada’s leading comprehensive universities, with undergraduate and graduate programs in faculties of Applied Health Sciences, Arts, Engineering, Environment, Mathematics, and Science; and includes professional schools of Pharmacy, Optometry, Accounting, Architecture and Planning. Waterloo offers the world’s largest co-operative education program.
Waterloo is one of seventeen provincially assisted universities in Ontario and includes four federated university colleges: St. Jerome’s, Renison, St. Paul’s and Conrad Grebel; and associated research institutes, such as the Water Institute, Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology (WIN), the Institute for Quantum Computing, and the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging.
Find out more about the University of Waterloo at www.uwaterloo.ca
RFP BACKGROUND
Since it was launched in 1957 by a group of industrialists with a dream of changing the world through innovation and research, the University of Waterloo has become an internationally recognized leader in entrepreneurship and innovation. From high-level cryptography that keeps your information secure, to the safety and sustainability of the water we drink, Waterloo continues to shape the world we share.
Teaching and research excellence remain core to Waterloo’s mission. Waterloo continues to stand out among Canadian institutions, ranking as the nation’s most innovative university for 26 consecutive years (according to Maclean's magazine)
At Waterloo, experiential learning takes place within a research environment. Learning that transcends disciplinary, institutional and international boundaries encourages students to address real challenges in new and innovative ways. The opportunity to learn in such a dynamic and relevant way attracts the best and brightest students from across Canada and around the world — with over 36,000 full- and part-time students enrolled in Waterloo programs.
Since its inception, the University’s Waterloo campus has undergone significant change and development, evolving into what is today a sizeable, non-linear network of buildings and destinations connected by a variety of conduits. While the campus has increased in size, density and complexity, wayfinding and navigation-related tools and solutions have not kept up, primarily being developed at a granular level and not being fully integrated.
As well as the logical need to ensure students, visitors, staff and faculty are able to reach their destination quickly and confidently, this project is recognition that the experience of navigating Waterloo’s campus has a substantial impact on perceptions of the University. Confusing, inconsistent and poorly-designed wayfinding systems can detract from the experience and environment and, in turn, may reflect negatively on the University.
As a result, the University has identified the need to improve the experience of navigating in and around the University campus, through the development and implementation of a Campus Wayfinding Plan.
The primary purpose of this project is to improve the experience of navigating in and around the University’s Waterloo campus. Accordingly, the University is seeking professional services to assist in completing the Campus Wayfinding Plan (CWP) and to assess equipment and signage options and costs for same. Aspects such as user-friendliness, visibility and legibility, accessibility, functionality, branding, visual attractiveness, consistency, ease of maintenance and repair, including anti-vandalism features, flexibility and adaptability to accommodate an evolving campus, as well as cost, will need to be considered as part of the work. A phasing and implementation plan will also need to be developed to identify priority areas for implementation, including high-level capital and maintenance cost estimates.
Although the primary focus of this work is on developing pedestrian wayfinding on campus, the final report will need to address and provide guidance towards how pedestrian wayfinding can be fully integrated with vehicular wayfinding, including public transit (including bus and ION, the region’s light rail transit system), cycling and public parking wayfinding. The final report will form the CWP. Implementation will be staged to initially include the University’s South, East and North Campuses (but excluding the David Johnston Research + Technology Park), followed by campus locations in Cambridge, Kitchener and Stratford.
NOTE –
A RESPONDENTS MEETING is being held on Tuesday, November 14th at 2:30 pm (90 minutes), in EC 5 1011 (Enterprise Theatre). This meeting is not mandatory; bidders may self-tour the campus before/after the meeting
Budget
The budget for this design phase (Phase I) of the project is not to exceed $150,000 CAD, exclusive of GST/HST.
Further details are available in the RFP document - questions regarding this Request for Proposal may be submitted in writing (via email) as follows:
Stephen Cook, Procurement and Contract Services
University of Waterloo
Email: scook@uwaterloo.ca, or, procure@uwaterloo.ca
