ate learn evolve in Our Practice Advancement Centers continued to serve as a firmwide resource in gathering and disseminating knowledge and building relationships across offices.

Higher Education

The collaboration between offices and sectors was a huge push for the Higher Ed PAC this year, and we are really starting to see our expertise shine through. We have so many talented and specialized team members across the firm, and it is exciting to see all the new partnerships growing and transforming how we can support our higher educational clients.

These partnerships increased even more with the addition of the Greensboro and Asheville offices. Our bench of higher education experience and client history grew deeper, resulting in several new projects for the firm such as the Guilford Technical Community College Aviation Center and The Montreat College Master Plan. Both of these efforts came from great client relationships as well as a strong team that highlighted our unique personnel and joint team capabilities.

Higher education project opportunities remain strong, and 2022 was a heavy proposal response year, with 72 proposals submitted and 35 shortlist interviews, resulting in 15 project wins! This win rate exceeds industry standards for competitive open pursuits and speaks to our targeted approach.

We also held our first ever in-person HE PAC retreat in Greensboro, NC. The retreat was a great way for our team to get to know one another, discuss where we are as a PAC, and envision where we aspire to be. The group toured three LS3P projects, and we enjoyed a few collegiate-themed competitions along the way.

k-12 education

In 2022, the K-12 PAC turned our focus to concentrating on the three Cs: Community, Colleagues, and Clients. Each of our offices have continued to embrace the “one firm” mentality to best serve our clients around the southeast. With the growth of LS3P’s new offices, the K-12 practice team welcomed new members and embraced our culture of collaboration.

In collaboration with LS3P’s Knowledge Teams, the K-12 PAC led a research effort that will be an internal and external resource to advance educational learning environments. We are excited to share these resources among our teams and clients throughout 2023.

Multiple team members had the opportunity to attend educational summits and conferences, in addition to providing thought leadership to others by speaking at these events; subject matter included early childhood education and outdoor learning. Additionally, the K-12 teams was proud to showcase a few of our newest schools through A4LE tours of Garinger High School, Ridge Spring-Monetta K-12, and Hendersonville High School.

All of our hard work seems to be paying off in the best way: at the start of the 2022 school year 6,185 students walked into a new school that was designed by LS3P’s K-12 team!

Workplace

Our Workplace PAC had a very successful year! We broke ground on the 600 South Tryon Office Tower at Legacy Union in Charlotte, and we began designing the next phase of the Live Oak Bank campus in Wilmington. Our Piedmont Town Center project won a Great Suburban Design award at Charlotte’s Urban Design Awards, and the Charlotte Business Journal named Vantage South End (Spectrum Properties) as the Top Mixed-Use Development, and the Honeywell HQ at Legacy Union (Lincoln Harris) as the Top Office Building in its annual “Heavy Hitters” list. Throughout the year, we held quarterly sector leader strategy discussions to celebrate successes and lay the groundwork for future opportunities.

Urban Environments

In 2022 UE, the Urban Environments team essentially built an innovative, one-of-a-kind practice from scratch, starting with three UE members at the beginning of the year and ending with eight (including Olivia Gray as Urban Environments Marketing Manager). Together, we won the comprehensive plan for the Town of Kiawah, brought hope to the Idora community in Ohio with a one-of-a-kind master plan and supplemental animation, completed the Myrtle Beach Arts and Innovation Vision book, and collaborated with a number of practice areas across multiple cities to deliver innovative ideas firmwide.