team building

BKF + Lotus Water: Creating a More Resilient Water Future, Together

Lotus Water Announces Merger with BKF Engineers, Expanding Leadership in Water Resources and Resilience

Lotus Water is pleased to be joining BKF Engineers, a leading planning, engineering, surveying, and construction management firm specializing in the Transportation, Water, Development, and Government Markets across the western United States. Creating a more resilient water future together, we are Stronger by Design! This strategic merger positions the combined organization to better serve public agencies, utilities, and communities facing increasingly complex water and climate challenges.

By joining BKF, Lotus Water adds advanced technical depth and resilience-focused services that complement BKF’s broad civil, infrastructure, and environmental engineering practices. Together, the combined organization is sharpening its focus with a clear priority: to lead the industry in sustainable, resilient design that prepares communities, protects our watersheds, and strengthens infrastructure into the future.

“Water resilience is one of the defining infrastructure challenges of our time,” said Peter Wijsman, Executive Vice President of Infrastructure Solutions at BKF Engineers. “By bringing Lotus Water into BKF, we are intentionally building a premier water resources platform, one that combines deep technical experience, innovative thinking, and the scale required to help communities and utilities adapt to climate change, protect critical infrastructure, and plan confidently for the future. This acquisition accelerates our ability to lead in the water market and innovate solutions that are both resilient and enduring.”

A Powerful Alignment of Vision + Values

“The acquisition creates a significantly larger and more experienced water resources practice, expanding BKF’s capacity to pursue larger and more complex projects while continuing to deliver first-class outcomes. Lotus Water’s established presence in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest also supports BKF’s strategic growth in key West Coast markets,” says Greg Hurd, President and CEO of BKF.

Lotus Water will continue to operate as Lotus Water and clients of both firms will benefit from a more comprehensive suite of services, combining BKF’s operational scale, geographic reach, and multidisciplinary expertise with Lotus Water’s leadership in water resilience, policy development, advanced modeling, nature-based solutions, and innovative design approaches. Lotus Water will operate as a critical part of BKF’s Water Resources practice, maintaining its strong technical culture and focus on sustainable solutions while gaining access to expanded resources and opportunities for growth.

Following the acquisition, Lotus Water will operate as a standalone legal and operating entity within the BKF family of companies.

BKF + Lotus Water: Creating a More Resilient Water Future, Together.

For more information, visit bkf.com.

2023 Company Retreat

Since the pandemic, the Lotus team has expanded remotely beyond the Bay Area, with employees hailing from the Pacific Northwest, up the Rockies, and across to the East Coast. While we love seeing everyone in our weekly lunchtime staff meetings on Teams, there’s no replacement for spending time all together in the same place to exchange ideas, problem-solve, catch up….and go on safari?!… That’s right - thiis year, Lotus brought together the entire team from across four states for our a first-ever overnight retreat in Santa Rosa, hosted at Safari West. The team kicked off the morning with small-group workshops and breakout activities to envision company goals, culture, ways to balance the convenience of remote work and the collaborative benefits of in-person interaction, and how to best align projects with Lotus’ values and mission.

Of course, no trip to Safari West would be complete without a tour of its 400-acre free-range preserve. With important business planning and staff recognition awards wrapped up, it was time for the retreat’s main event. Starting with a walking tour of the preserve’s aviary habitats, our expert guides shared a brief history of the safari’s conservation mission and introduced us to a flamboyance of flamingos and other colorful birds before guiding us on a grand tour of the preserve in restored military jeeps. Complete with the sweltering inland air of late spring to properly transport us to the African savanna, we not only saw unique mammals like the aoudad, but learned fascinating trivia, while taking turns braving the blazing sun to enjoy prime views from the rooftop seats.

As our day at the safari wrapped up and evening crept in, the team headed up to a house nestled in the hills of Santa Rosa for sunset drinks by the pool and dinner locally catered by Epicurean Escape, taking advantage of the beautiful weather and setting to share good food and laughs with each other. Though departing early the next morning was a struggle for some, the retreat was a wonderful reminder of why we all have chosen to work together at Lotus to tackle projects that seek new ways of protecting and managing water resources for our communities.

A playful baby southern white rhino, the crowd favorite

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat...and WATER!

Lotus-18Reasons_AKam_20200123.jpg

CAUTION!

sous-chefs @ work

You know what they say about company culture:

A team that okonomiyakis together, stays together.

Joking aside, Lotus Water fully embraced the spirit of okonomi (“what you like”) and yaki (cooked”), by taking time to enjoy each other’s company, learning some tasty new culinary skills, and celebrating a successful 2019 with a home(office)-cooked meal with the folks at 18 Reasons.

The cooking class and menu were collectively chosen by Team Lotus as our company’s annual holiday event. Everyone had a blast in the kitchen, from mandolining carrots, searing pork belly, flipping okonomiyaki pancakes, to whipping up matcha soufflés…and of course EATING with each other and looking forward to another big year in 2020!

Want to put on your chef’s toque? Menu + recipes here!

Holidays @660 Mission

Taking advantage of our wonderful new shared space, Lotus celebrated our first holiday season at 660 Mission with our friends and neighbors at SITELAB. After a hard day’s work, everyone was treated to a Winter Wonderland-themed happy hour, complete with a lively white elephant gift exchange that went into extra innings, fueled by the office’s creative spirit...along with a tasty, Spiked Cocoa Bar featuring a homemade hot chocolate recipe!

New Kids On The Block

What do you get when you mix great people who share a passion for engineering innovation, collaborative design, sustainability, and add a splash of water? Welcome to 660 Mission, Lotus’ new 4,700 square-foot home and office space shared with SITELAB Urban Studio in San Francisco’s dynamic SOMA neighborhood.

The two firms celebrated our new space with an Open House in October with friends, colleagues, and clients. We delighted our guests with a gourmet spread from Oakland’s Roux and Vine, sweet treats from Churn Urban Creamery, and craft brews from Black Hammer, including the limited release Sea Puppy created in homage to the Embarcadero Sea Wall.

We were thrilled to see so many familiar faces and are loving our new digs!