The stress on the staff, the crush of patients, and the unknowns surrounding what we were dealing with played out every day in hospitals and health centers. We’ll be learning from all this for years to come, especially in terms of the human impact both on those needing care and those providing it.

Building better health care
One less obvious but crucial component of this learning that the pandemic brought into focus is the nature of the buildings where care is provided.

While the concept of contagion had been an ever-present but fairly well-managed concern, when COVID played out on a global scale it drove home the awareness that the human race had experienced nothing like this since the influenza epidemic that swept the world in 1918. The speed and severity of the infection caused many to stop and think about how buildings themselves contribute to the quality of patient care, and the greater role that structures might play in alleviating the spread of the next pandemic.

The ripples of COVID have taken many forms and as a result, several construction and design examples point to changes taking place now that will shape what our hospitals will take and how they will perform going forward.

In a New York Times article, Douglas King, Vice President in the health care arm of the American firm Project Management Advisors, talks about the steps hospitals have begun to take to be in a better position to deal with future pandemics. “During the pandemic, they were doing hopscotch and leapfrog; they had to adapt on the fly. Now hospitals are identifying wards of 24 to 32 beds, and they can stack some of those wards together to become pandemic wards.”

There has been ongoing rethinking of how buildings—in health care and otherwise—need to be more flexible as rapid-changing technology transforms how facilities are used. But while this sounds good, there are also pesky problems like added costs and complexity in design that come with these considerations.

Those costs, however, seem small in comparison to the risks, which became all too apparent when COVID rudely arrived in health units across North America.

Negative pressure
Take the recently constructed Helena Theurer Pavilion at the Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. The nine-story, 530,000-square-foot surgical and intensive care tower not only has robotic-assisted operating rooms, but the entire building can be converted to a negative-pressure facility that, if required, seals the tower to contain pathogens in the air.

Beyond this, the center also includes “pass-throughs,” small ports that allow tubing and cords to extend outside a negative-pressure room without losing the negative pressure and compromising the rest of the building.

Before the appearance of COVID, there was no recent experience of what to do in a large-scale pandemic. You’d have to go back to about 1918 when influenza began to take thousands and eventually millions of lives. Health care teams have now learned that being able to transform a health care building quickly makes all the difference when responding to a fast-changing situation. That means adding capacity to existing hospitals as well as reconfiguring entrances to better separate non-infected patients. This may also take the form of extra capacity for oxygen and power for ventilators.

Learning the lessons
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recounts lessons learned from the pandemic, including how critical it was to adapt and what happened when patients continued to fill hospital floors.

New York was the epicentre of COVID in 2020 and a doctor described what happened: “We quickly ran out of isolation rooms in the surge of the pandemic. We improvised using additional methods such as the placement of highly-effective particulate air filters and UV lights. Other promising strategies for decreasing transmission are electronic filtration and high fresh air exchange.”

Also under consideration are structural systems that can be modified without creating major disruptions to operations. In addition, the power load capacity can adjust to meet a sudden surge in need. Systems that offer flexibility can be removed and reinstalled to allow for other specialty equipment to be added to a unit to accommodate the situation.

An example of how to get extra capacity for ventilators on short notice can be found at the Ballantyne Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Center has an adaptable, modular system called dual headwalls, which are like panels that can be opened up to access the operating systems to adjust them for more ventilation without having to tear open walls. The air systems can also be converted to negative pressure to prevent airborne particles from circulating in the building.

Not only does airflow need to be adjusted to meet a sudden change, but health care centers also need to provide more distance for people and reduce the amount of contact in a hospital when a contagious virus appears in the population.

Changing space
Staying flexible and being able to convert spaces as needs change also paves the way for more modular design. New hospitals or expansion projects can be built from dozens of prefabricated modular structures that can be scaled up or down, lending themselves to repurposing to meet new challenges. The Hong Kong branch of engineering firm WSP, for example, has designed a health care isolation facility constructed from shipping containers that are stackable and ready to convert to configurations for offices, laboratories, and other specific purposes.

In Los Angeles, the CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center adapted its treatment and its intake structures. During the pandemic, waiting rooms presented their own risks as sick people congregated. Waiting rooms are also often the largest entrance into a hospital. To help reduce the risk, the medical center designed and built larger waiting rooms to allow for distancing as needed, along with 33 private rooms which can also be reconfigured for a surge in patients.

With the same focus on controlling the flow of people, Doylestown Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in partnership with The S/L/A/M Collaborative (SLAM), has set up “pods,” groupings of patient rooms that help speed up response time. A curved corridor allows nurses to keep visual contact with patients from decentralized stations. Glass-walled rooms also contribute to care without the need to enter the area.

The unit is primarily used as an intensive care unit but has the added flexibility of step-down beds, which can be adjusted for patients who need varying levels of care. “The design of the facility is a result of a collective process with the hospital,” said Dawn Thornton, AIA, SLAM Architect and Lead Designer on the project.

Mentally healthy
Recently, more attention has been paid to the impact facilities can have on mental health for everyone from frontline workers and patients to administration personnel. Psychology Today notes how designers and builders can help shape spaces that make people feel less “institutionalized” and add more dignity to mental health facilities. An example is the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU in Richmond, Virginia, which is designed to be more inviting, with natural landscapes and with more integrated as opposed to isolated spaces.

Studies have even shown that recovery can be quicker when people are recovering in facilities designed to include natural elements. Accordingly, the Glick Center in Cleveland incorporates light and shadow from tree canopies in its design through the use of skylights and texturing on the walls. The effect is a “hospital in a park”—a lot more inviting than narrow halls and fluorescent lights.

The pandemic has not only accelerated the development of new concepts around designing and constructing health care buildings and improving preparedness for a major contagion, but has also opened discussion on the impact that construction has on the patients, their families, and the staff of a hospital.

The truth is that we are just starting to unpack what all this means for hospitals and health centres. There will be more to come as a greater understanding of the pandemic and its human effects transforms the challenges and standards that hospitals must address as they build.

The post Convertible Spaces<p class="company">The Future of Health Care Is Flexible</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

In 2019, BTEA Northeast hosted the first Building Trades Recovery Week. Despite initial success, it was not smooth sailing. COVID-19 prevented the event from taking place in 2021, making this year’s event the third one of its kind.

“The focus is to bring the industry together to combat substance use disorder, improve mental health, and break through the stigma. There is always a big fear that keeps people from coming forward and asking for help,” says Tom Gunning, who is also the third-generation leader of this 100-year-old institution. BTEA Northeast prides itself on being a trusted industry partner of union building trades’ contractors and national associations across New England.

The organization offers a helping hand for those working in the construction industry and provides options for help with addiction issues. Ostracism was once a part of how the industry and society treated people suffering from substance dependency but BTEA Northeast is actively working to change that, dispelling workers’ fears of losing their employment, their families, and the respect of others. As part of this mission, the association enhanced employee assistance programs (EAP) in Boston, Massachusetts.

While in these programs, employees receive treatment from licensed therapists. People also receive secondary help in the form of access to rehabilitation facilities and similar.

“Employees can reach out for help to anyone they want to inside the employee assistance program, which is a third party,” Gunning explains. “The EAP [consists of] licensed clinicians who deal with mental health issues. We want people to know that it is okay to ask for help. It is okay to get that help, and then we will get you back to work when it is safe.”

The awareness-building event was launched on Monday, April 24 at the Sheet Metal Workers Journeyman Apprenticeship Training Center in Boston, Massachusetts, where everyone had the opportunity to listen to guest speakers legendary Major League Baseball star Darryl Strawberry, and Dave Silk, NHL player and member of the men’s team that won a gold medal in 1980 at the Lake Placid Olympics. Chief Executive Officer of Modern Assistance Programs John Christian also shared a few thoughts on his and his team’s work on their employee assistance program that serves many of Boston’s building trades unions and private companies.

Attendees included everyone from top management to entry-level employees, some in recovery, others healthy, and those looking to stay that way because, as Gunning points out, “The disease does not discriminate. They all shared a message of hope to those struggling with any type of mental illness or substance use disorder, and they let [employees] and management know that it is okay to ask for help, and it is okay to receive that help.”

On Wednesday evening, New York Giants’ Tight End Darren Waller shared his powerful recovery journey—from a full-year suspension after multiple failed drug tests to an overdose, to finding recovery and working at a local farmers market all the way back to the NFL. “Unfortunately, the stats are not improving. We still find ourselves in a crisis… All we hear are the headlines in the paper that another hundred thousand people died of overdoses last year,” Gunning says. “No one talks about what they are doing about it or how they are combating it or helping people. We just hear about the deaths.”

To prevent fatalities from opioid overdoses, the association has worked very hard to make Narcan, a naloxone-based nasal spray that is now available as an over-the-counter treatment, available on its job sites. Although there was a lot of red tape to get through and many leaders to convince of its efficacy and of the need within this context, good sense won, and now many lives are being saved.

“My push was that this is no different from a defibrillator. If this is a disease, which it is, and you truly lose the power of choice, that means that somebody is going to get drunk or high against their willpower. So why should we not have it in the first-aid kit just like a defibrillator?” poses Gunning. While there was a lot of resistance at first, he says that approaching the general contractors in person was what tipped the scales in favor of its use in the end.

The first adopters of Narcan on their job sites were John Moriarty and Associates and Lee Kennedy Co, who stocked the medication and trained their safety officers in its safe use. Their pledge caused a domino effect that saw the unions joining the movement by signing up for training alongside business agents, safety agents, and others. To date, Gunning is aware of nearly ten lives saved on job sites in 2019 alone. For BTEA Northeast, just saving a single life is enough to make a difference.

The awareness campaign is not just about men in the construction industry, however. The movement also draws attention to women in the industry and their struggles. To this end, an entire day was dedicated to issues such as postpartum psychosis and other significant issues affecting women in debilitating ways to help shed light, offer support, and remove stigma around such matters. The day’s schedule included breath work, yoga, meditation, and talks that took place in a safe space created to invite women into the conversation about traditionally taboo subjects that affect their quality of life daily.

“With addiction, people can go to meetings and get stuff off their chest because a problem shared is a problem cut in half, but a lot of women do not have that,” says Gunning. “They might be afraid to talk to their friends about their struggles, and it is a similar mindset to when [one is] addicted to drugs and alcohol. There is fear to share,” he says, pointing out how transcending fear can open up a whole new life of healing for those who reach out for help.

His sincerity in his commitment to creating a safe place for women and men to come forward and heal and get their lives back is not only genuine but also inspiring. Gunning describes self-destructive behavior as often rooted in fear of failure—or of success. Despite his fears, the support and positivity shown toward this work from those in the industry has been overwhelming.

“That was the leap that got me to go from a tough-guy mentality to helping others through this project. I tell everyone that the more we talk about our problems the better we feel. Forget about what the other person thinks; it is none of your business what they think,” he says.

The final day of the event was the largest and the most inspiring. Two job sites close to one another were set as locations where speakers spread the message that reaching out for help is safe and the brave thing to do. The overall message of this day also aimed to encourage people to lend a helping hand to those in need instead of shunning or shaming them. Speaking from personal experience, Gunning shared his tale of transformation and how cutting free from the tradition of toxic masculinity and all the misguided beliefs that came with that improved his life.

“I was one of them for a while. You have the big tough-guy personality, and you think, ‘Nothing’s going to affect me. I’m not talking about it.’ Some of us… were taught that way. Sweep it under the rug, right? In reality, it is not good for your mental health. It is better to get it out,” he says. That is part of why he is so passionate about sharing this message of learning compassion for one another.

The other reason BTEA Northeast is putting its heart on its sleeve is to help prevent suicides, because the rate is rising at an alarming rate. As Gunning says, with suicide, far more people than the immediate family are affected. Those subjected to witnessing such violent events are also severely traumatized. One incredible initiative set to change how the industry approaches the subject is wellness trailers, which may soon become commonplace around the world.

These trailers were introduced by New York City-based global construction giant Turner Construction Company, which also recently launched what it calls the Wellness Workdays ‘Wellness Trailer 2.0’ program. The company takes the lead when it comes to allowing its staff and its collaborators’ staff to make better choices for their physical and mental health by providing them with staffed trailers on job sites where they can go for everything from emergency medical assistance to health coaches and care staff.

With the increase in potentially deadly adulterated recreational drugs, the association’s growing concern is legitimate. “I want people to know that help is available if they need it. Another statistic we found is that 229 out of every 100,000 construction workers die from substance use disorder every year. A 2020 study shows that 83 percent of construction workers have experienced a mental health issue. Our industry also has the highest suicide rate with fifty-three suicides per 100,000 workers, which is five times greater than all the other construction fatalities combined,” Gunning says.

It is clear that he is under no illusions about the realities of the situation. He remains grateful and is quick to tell me that Recovery Week would never be possible without the hard work and contributions of his fantastic staff, the building trades, contractors, and everyone who helps to make this a reality.

“This week is not about the statistics; it is about the humans and the heartbeats that make up our workforce. These men and women build the Northeast. Our goals are to let them know it is okay to come forward and to build wellness so that our entire workforce can go home and be healthy and safe at the end of each day,” says Gunning.

With all this work well on its way to changing how the construction industry approaches addiction, BTEA Northeast’s next goal is to help employers transform their safety divisions into wellness divisions by, for instance, making Narcan available on all job sites across the country. To achieve this, the association has professional consultants available who train safety staff in its administration.

“We want to let all these guys and ladies know that we care about them. They are not just there to get a job done. Contractors want me to deliver this message to their workers. They want them to know that if they are struggling, help is available,” says Gunning about the association and its unions’ commitment to creating more of the meaningful connection on which life in the Northeast is built.

The post Building Change through Connection<p class="company">Building Trades Recovery Week (BTEA Northeast)</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Although Homestar Inc. was founded in 2002, the company’s roots go back to the mid-90s, when then teenaged Mark Hatfield got a summer job working an eight-hour day installing drywall for $6/hour. “But,” he says, “I’d go home and mow two lawns in two hours and make fifty dollars. I talked to my dad about quitting my job and he agreed that once I had ten lawns, I would be earning more than I was doing drywall and could give my notice. So, I hustled the neighbourhood, got ten lawns, put in my notice—and that was just one day’s work.”

That was only the beginning of Hatfield’s entrepreneurial adventure, as he developed relationships with customers who requested more work around their homes: weeding, taking out trash, cleaning out garages and barns.

“So I diversified, continued my lawn care business, which I named University Venture, got my first truck while I was still in high school, and when I went to Mount Allison University (two hours away in Sackville, NB), I had people at home running my business and I would come on weekends to work.”

In his third year at university, he took an opportunity to sell the business, so when he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 2001, he was debt-free and ready to take on the corporate world. Or so he thought.

Making it happen
Hatfield soon realized that working for a large corporation wasn’t for him, and in 2002 his entrepreneurial spirit drew him to back his roots when he founded Homestar Inc. in the Town of Quispamsis. The company is ideally placed to serve the Greater Saint John area, which, in addition to Quispamsis, includes the City of Saint John and 16 municipalities, including the towns of Rothesay, Hampton, and Norton, and the Kennebecasis River Valley area, with a population of over 126,000.

By 2023 Homestar Inc. had grown to include five divisions. There’s the custom-built home division, and Propertystar, a holding company which owns and manages 50 residential and commercial properties, including apartment buildings and shopping malls. Within the last five years, Huff & Puff, (insulation installation); Homestar Building Supplies, (a Castle Building Supplies dealership); Allstar Heating & Cooling; Outlaw Trucking, (with a fleet of 130 vehicles); and Maverick Electrical have all been added, bringing to fruition Hatfield’s vision of a “one-stop shop”.

In addition, Homestar’s reach has extended to New Brunswick’s two other main cities, Fredericton and Moncton, and across the provincial border to the Town of Amherst, Nova Scotia, with a staff of 135 which includes eight project managers.

But none of this happened overnight. Hatfield slowly and patiently grew the company, surrounding himself with good people, while reinvesting profits to offer more services and remain competitive. As the boss, he says he was always the last to get paid, sometimes going for months without pay.

Johnny-on-the-spot
“I started in 2002 as a niche market, taking care of homes whose owners went south for the winter, and I marketed myself through real estate agencies. On closing day, new owners sometimes couldn’t move in because snow was piled up or there was garbage in the driveway, and I told them, ‘I’m Johnny-on-the-spot’ and I’ll be there in one day and have it ready for the movers, he shares.

“That helped me get established and as time went on, I started buying properties and renovating them. In two months I hired my first employee, Geoff Bryson, who is still with me, and we continued to grow the business, doing more renovations and more landscaping.”

Having Bryson, someone Hatfield could trust, as Project Manager, gave him the freedom to explore other avenues and develop his idea of what a one-stop construction business could look like.

“I had talked to people getting renovations done on their homes and according to them, it was a nightmare. The carpenter would blame delays on the electrician, and the electrician would blame it on the plumber, and if the plumber got delayed, it was the crack-filler’s fault. I saw an opportunity to mitigate that and make the work all flow in a logical manner.”

Having assembled a team that could execute renovations smoothly, Hatfield was ready to begin custom home building, which he says was a juggling act if it meant depending on multiple subcontractors.

“Now when we build a home, the only thing we sub-out is the well and kitchen cabinetry. Everything else is in-house: we excavate the property, put in the ICF (insulated concrete form) foundations, and backfill. We frame and sheathe it, put in the roof, windows and doors, siding, decking, and fencing. We have our own electrical division, plumbing division, drywallers, interior finishers; everything is done in-house, including the interior design.”

David MacMorrough, Project Manager for Homestar’s custom homes (with interiors designed by Sarah Dorcas), notes that they’re built to R2000 standards, come with a 10-year Atlantic Home Warranty, and for two consecutive years have received the Canadian Homebuilders’ Association New Brunswick’s “Best New Home Award”, based on quality, design, and uniqueness.

Hatfield describes MacMorrough as “one of our safety gurus. We had a culture change about eight years ago where we got into being safety focused and worked with keen individuals from WorkSafeNB who came into our shop and helped educate our team. We look at them as an asset. We call them with questions or concerns and they appreciate us doing that because they say we’re the only company that does.”

Next-level safety
MacMorrough, who took on the responsibility of getting COR Certification, says he knew how important it was to the continued success of the company. “I always value safety and I want to see every person go home with their lives and all their digits. I don’t ever want to be the person to make a call to a loved one to say a worker was hurt, hospitalized, or worse.

“The commitment to getting certification was a big step for us, and took me a year, as it was extensive, considering the amount of documentation and training through the NB Construction Association to become the COR Prime.

Once I completed that I revised the safety manuals to ensure all our safe work priorities and job procedures were covered. It was quite a workload, in addition to being the full-time project manager, but I was glad to be able to pull it off.”

Very few workers were at all resistant when the new safety protocols were introduced. “I understand that because I’ve been in this industry since 1992 as a carpenter, and we were walking on 12-foot walls without safety harnesses, wearing shorts and no shirts, and it was a free-for-all.

“But I got with the times because as you get older your perspective changes. Now they understand I want them to go home at the end of the day, and that I’m not doing this to be a nag. A life-changing accident can happen in a split-second, and I want them all to be safe.”

Giving back
Hatfield says community service and giving back to the community is important, and that “we’re always looking for good causes to work together as a team.”

The company provides maintenance services to Hestia House in Saint John, a shelter for women fleeing abusive relationships; maintains two dog parks which it built in Quispamsis and Hampton; works with the Canadian Peace Keepers’ Association to provide storage space at no cost for their equipment—beds, canes, walkers; sponsors baseball and hockey teams; and raises funds for the Saint John Food Bank. Every few weeks the Homestar team gets together and makes over 300 sandwiches, with the food supplied by the company.

One thing which concerns Hatfield about the future of the construction industry (something that company owners across the continent have spoken of to this publication) is an education system that devalues trades, resulting not only in a workforce shortage for companies but often wrong life choices and missed choices for everyone.

“I wouldn’t have thought it possible if someone had told me years ago that there would be a lack of talented, skilled trades along with increasing demands in the industry. But now we’re seeing it,” he says.

“I grew up in an era when going to a trade school was not seriously considered, and you were frowned upon if you didn’t go to university. I look back on it now and I wish I had gone to a trade school. University did prepare me for certain things, but a trade school would have been better. What parents and academic educators don’t understand is that tradespeople can make a very good income—between $80,000 to $100,000, plus they get paid while they’re apprenticing.”

“Better than me”
“I was always mechanically inclined,” Hatfield says, “but from the start, I looked to hire people who could do it better than me and I think that’s where my success comes from. I surround myself with great people, people I trust and rely on, and they give me the freedom to look for new ideas and opportunities and take care of everything behind me while I’m looking ahead.”

Another secret of Homestar’s success is the partnerships he’s formed with companies such as Castle Building Supplies which offers superior products nationally, and the architectural firm Polyline Designs based in Sussex.

“We want to partner with companies that stand behind their products and stand the test of time,” he says, “just as we stand behind our company. Homestar is still a young company and I’m only 44 years old. I still have another 25 years of growing the company and I want those people and companies with me.”

The post From Mowing Lawns to Full-Service Construction<p class="company">Homestar Inc.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

After 54 years in the electrical contracting field, G.R. Noto Electrical Construction is the preferred service supplier of names like Procter & Gamble, Cargill, Sanofi Pasteur, Henkel, Bridon Bekaert, Kalahari Resorts, and Resorts World Casino in Monticello, New York, which all trust the company to deliver quality across the full range of its electrical contracting services. That includes power supply, lighting, fire alarm installation, and everything electrical needed to run sound, data, and communication facilities. In addition, it also installs security cameras and performs industrial equipment wiring and integration, control panel building, building information modeling, and much more.

Based in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, this company is always ready to serve clients with the best craftsmanship and customer care available today. With a twelve-member administrative team, four project managers, and one mechanic, the 80 to 100 field staff members have all the support they need.

“A company is only as good as the people in the field. Training and team building are essential to top-level success. Loyalty, customer service, and training separate [our people] from the rest,” says Vice President A.J. Palazzari.

The company serves a range of industries from hospitality to healthcare facilities like regional hospitals and the like. The latest addition to its services is entirely focused on securing sufficient training to handle the imminent electric vehicle (EV) market expansion. Consequently, the company has ten qualified people prepared to install planned charging stations across the area.

To be able to answer high-volume demands, the company’s facilities are thoroughly equipped and licensed. In 2021, its assembly facility was certified by the Underwriters Laboratory (UL). It has also been proficient in building information modeling since 2019, while its prefabrication facility answers to a range of specialized site needs.

Due to the nature of G.R. Noto’s work, taking safety seriously is crucial. The level of excellence it has achieved in terms of regular and thorough safety training has won the company several awards over the years. That includes winning the Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for Safety Excellence (GASE) two times—once in 2016 for a banner year without a Lost Time Incident or a Recordable Injury, and again in 2022 for the company’s innovative approach to offsite prefabrication, using a portion of its warehouse to provide a stable and controlled environment to reduce injury and bolster safety. In 2019, it also received the District II Safety Achievement Award from the National Electrical Contractors Association’s Pen-Del-Jersey Chapter for clocking 150,001-300,000 safe labor hours.

One of the team’s most epic projects is the Resorts World Catskills casino in Monticello, New York with luxury suites, nearly a dozen dining establishments, and a sophisticated entertainment center that accommodates over 2000 people and was LEED-certified by the US Green Building Council.

G.R. Noto’s relationship with the Kalahari group has led to completing the Kalahari Resort and Convention Centre in 2015. The facility in Pennsylvania’s spellbinding Pocono Mountains features luxury accommodation and is famed for its indoor water park. Alongside this, guests enjoy access to the convention center, indoor theme park and arcade, plus shopping and restaurants. It is located two miles from the famous Mt. Airy Casino and Resort, another successful project completed in 2007 by a then-young management team at G.R. Noto.

Try as one may, however, it is not always possible to avoid challenges, and when there is no way around a problem, the only way is through it. That was exactly what the company did when COVID-19 restrictions arrived. As fortune would have it, one of its largest customers is in the toilet tissue industry, which helped save the day.

“There was a lot of uncertainty during that period. [This essential services client] allowed many of our employees to work staggered weeks to keep the business moving,” says Palazzari about the lockdown period.

The company approaches minimizing waste in the same can-do spirit. It reuses as many consumables and other components as possible. To do more to support the environment and lighten its carbon footprint, G.R. Noto Electrical Construction is looking into converting its current fleet into electric vehicles once the technology has evolved sufficiently to deliver further distances. It also ensures that all its lighting throughout its facilities is energy-efficient LED.

Becoming more environmentally responsible is not the only way in which it adjusts to the zeitgeist. In a continuously evolving industry, moving in step with technological developments is imperative and this approach has always been a part of the company.

Established in 1969 by Gabe Noto to complement an existing family business, the company grew into a robust organization by the eighties. Joining the company in their twenties, A.J. Palazzari’s father Armond Palazzari, Sr. and his friend—the owner’s son—Gabe Noto, Jr. would eventually become owners and take the company into the new millennium with Noto, Jr. as President and Palazzari, Sr. as Vice President in 1984.

Also in 1984, Gerard Nichols, Sr. joined the company as a highly talented apprentice, later becoming part of the leadership team, first as lead superintendent and later as an estimator and project manager. In 2012, Noto, Jr. stepped down, passing his shares in the business on to Palazzari, Sr. and Nichols, Sr.

A.J. Palazzari joined the company as an electrical apprentice in 1998 and worked his way up into his current position in the same way Nichols, Sr. did.

Nichols’ son, Gerard Nichols Jr., arrived in 2014 after working in education. He was promoted to the position of project manager and estimator in 2019. After decades of hard work and leadership, Armond Palazzari, Sr. left his executive seat. This month, Nichols, Sr. will pass the torch to third-generation leaders Gerard Nichols, Jr. and A.J. Palazzari who are committed to continuing their fathers’ legacy of excellence.

The leaders also leave behind a legacy of doing good, with several charities benefiting every year. Apart from giving materials to Habitat for Humanity, Little Leagues, and other groups, the company also provides infrastructure for temporary power and light supply at deserving events every year.

Palazzari envisions EV technology erupting into an entirely new field to include much more than transportation. “I see the technology changing to EV for more than just vehicles. [That] will create a fresh sector of our business with upgrading services and charging station installations,” he says.

Another forecast includes lighting based on power-over-Ethernet becoming a reality in as little as ten years. “This is a method used currently by electronic devices such as cameras, (wireless access points), and security devices by which power is derived from the headend tele-data rack in the millivolts category, not your standard 120/277v sources used currently,” Palazzari adds, highlighting that such technology is likely to change the industry completely. With this possibility in mind, the company will be ready by ensuring that it has enough technicians qualified in tele-data operations and the necessary equipment.

The good news for this team is that the company is poised to embrace market changes and modernity and is training its next generation of employees. Meanwhile, G.R. Noto Electrical Construction’s promise to customers of optimum quality, value for money, fairness, and continuous improvement remains the same.

Planning for its next era is proving to be as much of an adventure as its past 54 years. With its sights also set on adding another department to further improve service to existing clientele, the company’s next big goal is to expand its return business by a quarter of the existing volume. In addition, it plans to employ additional field foremen to expand its capabilities for completing large projects.

With its track record in business and staff retention, the mission is bound to be easy. “If that can be achieved it should propel us into retirement and make way for the next generation,” says Palazzari, who believes that continuous effort is vital to achieving the company’s potential.

The post Lighting the Future<p class="company">G.R. Noto Electrical Construction, Inc.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Armed with his experience as a tradesman, Jim Buchan founded his own business—which would eventually become a group of companies—in 2001. His wife, Lisa, came on board in 2003. In 2007, the team launched a new entity to support their existing Ridgefield, Washington-based company.

“When the recession hit, we decided to start a steel fabrication company, and that’s when Alpha Iron was created,” he says. The new company solved a practical problem; because Buchan was not in the fabrication business before launching it, he had to rely on others to meet his standards. “I was buying a lot of fabrications from other sources, and the quality, the speed—I had no control of it. So we went ahead and started Alpha Iron.”

The team hit the ground running. “We started quickly, got into automation and robotics in 2008,” he explains. There are multiple advantages to adopting this advanced technology. “First of all, it improves the quality of the work. It improves the speed of the work, and then also, you can deploy the price of the work.”

Workers also benefit. “For the employee, it basically takes away all the dangerous tools,” Buchan says. Cutting torches, heavy lifting, and even some of the grinding are taken out of the employees’ hands.

“It basically gets those heavy pieces away from somebody,” says Safety Manager Morgan La Ville. “The machine can do the work. It also keeps the environment around it stable, where there’s just lifting with the crane in one section of that area, instead of all over the shop, and it also reduces foot traffic as well, because we have sectioned off areas that people are not allowed to be in. They have to go around and it keeps those areas controlled.”

The accuracy of the robotics can be immediately seen during installation. “We have a field crew that erects the iron or installs the iron,” Buchan says. “We follow industry standards specified in the American Institute of Steel Construction, and we actually have reduced those tolerances by half. So our steel that goes on the job site just fits.”

This does not just save time and money; it also protects workers on site, just as in the shop. “We’re removing the dangerous tools on the job sites too,” he says. Traditionally, workers on site would be “using large sledgehammers. They’re banging steel together, trying to get it to join, and because of our reduced tolerances, the steel just fits.”

This also dramatically reduces the noise on site. “We run a really quiet job site because we’ve taken away the dangerous tools on the job site as a result of how we fabricate our steel in our shop.”

In 2011, management realized they needed to add yet another company to the group. “So we went ahead and made the plunge,” Buchan says. “We had a need to increase and improve our schedules. One of the constraints was our coatings. We were outsourcing our coatings, our painting systems. So we bought Vancouver Steel Painters.” The acquisition has proven successful, with previous and new team members coming together and “taking on some challenging projects. It’s all worked out well.”

Throughout all the growth and success, a positive internal culture has remained a hallmark of Buchan’s companies. As the owners of the family business, he and his wife Lisa are an active presence, always ready to lend a hand. “We participate every single day. [We] are interested in our employees. We love our employees.”

This interest does not end with strictly work-related issues. “We’re interested in the health and the safety and the quality of life of our employees. I think it’s a great culture.”

The company also supports career advancement among the staff. “We encourage upward mobility in this company,” says Buchan. “We’re creating opportunities.” Take La Ville for instance. He started in the shop, demonstrated a passion for people and safety, and worked his way up to Safety Manager.

This supportive culture is clearly demonstrated in the company’s commitment to safety. In addition to La Ville’s monthly, company-wide safety meetings, employees start each week with a video covering whatever safety topic might be most applicable at the moment, from adverse weather conditions to fall protection and forklift safety.

Spearheading this safety training is important to Buchan. “Safety has to start with leadership,” he says. Leading the effort is “just part of being a good employer, providing a safe work environment, and investing in it. We invest a lot of time and money and energy into ensuring our people are safe.”

The team adopted a safety philosophy of ‘go on five,’ several years ago, with resounding success. “It’s a critical philosophy,” La Ville says. “We allow our employees to stop and take five seconds before they start. It first started with machine operation and crane operation, and then it moved over toward using grinders, using hand tools, and things like that.”

The idea is to “basically get people to stop what they’re doing, take five seconds, evaluate your work area, what you’re doing, what you’re working on, who’s working around you, and that’s really made a huge impact in our safety record. About eighty percent of your incidents are all related to the employee, and twenty percent of them are related to the work environment itself. So by getting people to stop and look at your work area, what’s going on around you, who’s moving steel around you, it’s really caused people to have a good idea what’s going on around them.”

‘Go on five’ has proved so successful that team members are using the concept outside of the workplace. “It’s also spilled into our personal lives as well,” says La Ville. “You do things at home with your kids like [saying], ‘Hey, let’s take five seconds and consider the issue that this [action] could cause.’”

‘Go on five’ may be a simple concept, but La Ville points out that it is at the heart of most safety procedures. “When you boil down all safety regulations and rules and requirements, they all basically do that,” he says. They all require workers to “stop and take time out of what their task is to look at the possible hazards and the risks and consider how it could affect somebody else and take action.”

The team plans to keep expanding the business. “We have growth plans,” Buchan says. “We have prepared some property. We’ve got future plans to build a new facility.” This will provide plenty of space to accommodate new markets. “There are new marketplaces coming up right now with a lot of government spending,” he says. “We’ve got bridgeworks coming up. There’s military work, the EV market. The forecast for steel is very, very good.”

The forecast for the long-term future of this family-owned business is also very good. Two of the Buchans’ three sons have joined the company as an integral part of the team—and of the future of the business. “They’re extremely hardworking, and they are very passionate about the employees here,” Buchan says. “So the future looks extremely bright to keep this a family-owned business I’m passing on to the next generation. That’s the goal.”

The post Committed to Quality, Safety, and Growth<p class="company">Alpha Iron </p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

After entering the commercial market, Danard’s company grew to its current state, where current President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Doyle represents the fourth generation of ownership in the family business. He remembers counting the parts as a young boy in the shop, and although he initially resisted the call of the family business, he decided to apply to the company directly after college. Since then, Danard has become a big part of his life, and he looks back fondly on his decision to head the company.

This commercial electrical company can adapt far better than other companies in its field because it does not get stuck in niche markets and can move where the economy demands without stretching itself too thin. Its work has allowed it to find customers in private work projects in the construction of offices, hotels, breweries, and the like or projects through the military-industrial complex. The latter, Doyle notes, has been a big help during national business slowdowns like the COVID-19 pandemic or the 2008 recession.

He feels that the company’s internal culture and values positively set it apart from others because it is driven by a desire to help people. When Doyle began his position in company leadership in 2018, he sought to refine the company’s purpose by establishing a management team to enact planning that would focus on helping people in its home state. This planning period allowed people-centric values to be introduced into the overall culture, and this has been the direction which the business has driven toward ever since.

The Seattle area of Washington has a reputation for being home to many big contractors, whereas Danard is on the smaller side but has a unique approach. The company’s goal is to be big enough to be able to handle any project, as opposed to leaving projects to bigger companies. It also wants to live up to a phrase that is paramount to its internal culture: ‘committed to building a better world.’ The phrase came from Doyle’s strategy sessions, and he says that Danard is in the business of people above all.

The goal in company operations is for customers to be happy with the services the company provides and to pursue design-build work with people who want a quality product that can show off Danard’s strengths. This attitude is indicative of the type of projects the business wants to pursue, and it does not end in its internal culture. Indeed, building a better world is applied to emphasizing the importance of small acts of kindness on all levels.

These acts, according to Doyle, influence and affect the attitudes of all involved and how the company presents itself in the market. For example, the company spends a lot of its time helping local charities and initiatives for this exact reason, including donating time and money to local organizations like the Family Renewal Shelter, Habitat for Humanity Tacoma, schools, animal shelters, and more.

These associations and constructing buildings that bring an inherent value to its home state are what the company feels lead the way toward building a better future for people now and for future generations.

Doyle sees the current state of the electrical industry as strong, especially for the company. While competitors are seeing challenges across certain markets, Danard is keeping busy with a healthy list of current projects and more opportunities ahead, although ongoing challenges with labor, supply chains, and certain elements in the current political landscape could prove to be tricky to navigate.

He says that the company is working around labor shortages by doing more pre-construction and pre-fabrication on projects. This allows the company to lower the overall size of crews needed for individual jobs and level the large groups needed on some projects, so people and resources can be more spread out.

Since 2018, Danard has seen some of its senior members and key foremen retire along with changes in other positions happening in close succession, so the company has put more focus on developing new talent and leadership.

“We can branch out to new general contractors and refresh our business development,” thanks to this approach, Doyle adds. The business is also working with general contractors and owners through the design-build process to address any supply chain issues as soon as possible to eliminate any questions or worries on the client’s part. In all cases, it aims to be as proactive as possible in pursuing solutions and delivering its signature high-quality service.

Doyle firmly believes that a company should never grow just for the sake of growing and must be the size that fits best for its unique situation. “Why make the same amount of profit with double the problems?” he asks.

That work in the current landscape is being awarded to larger Seattle contractors is a continuing issue, especially as no other company in the space is growing to meet this, but Doyle has a plan that he calls “$50 million in five years.” This plan means that generating $50 million in annual revenue would allow Danard to do most projects in the area without taking up the total revenue needed for a year, which is also a financially feasible solution.

Along with keeping this philosophy front of mind, the company is looking to add more staff and construct a new pre-fabrication warehouse next to its current headquarters. The company has also secured contracts with some larger area general contractors to partner with, and intends to add five new general contractors a year to expand its reach. A move into the southern area of Washington is also being considered, along with work on other projects that would help this goal progress.

Ultimately, the Danard crew will always strive to honor the company’s commitment to its values. “We need to make money to stay in business but it’s really about our passion and commitment to doing the right thing,” Doyle says, and this involves making good products for people and building a better world, which cannot happen without the team buying into this vision. Having recently hit its 75^th anniversary, Danard Electric has a solid history that shows no signs of stopping any time soon.

The post People-Focused Service for Four Generations<p class="company">Danard Electric</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Established in 1993 by founder Jim Bebo, ACI is a multi-award-winning operation regarded for offering world-class service for the best value. With unmatched quality, performance, and professionalism, it has become a trusted name in the Minnesota and Wisconsin markets and this will continue to be the case as it embarks on a new era of success.

A company in transition
In July 2022, ACI was acquired by Soundcore, which formed ACI Holdings Group, LLC, and in January 2023 the newly formed company acquired ACS Asphalt Concrete Solutions Inc., another player in the asphalt and concrete market in Minnesota and Wisconsin that had an esteemed reputation. The result: “Two great companies merging into one,” says Justin Meyer, Safety Manager at ACI.

“They were a company in Blaine, Minnesota doing almost the exact same type of work we did. There were a lot of similarities.” It just made sense, he notes. This will be the first year that the two operations will function together under the ACI name.

ACS will be absorbed into ACI’s operations, adding to its capabilities, resources, and ability to deliver exceptional project results. Clients will get greater value and the same job well done that they have come to expect from ACI.

Further to growing its size and capability, ACI is committed to adopting new tools and technologies as they become available.

For instance, poly jacking is a new concrete repair method offered by ACI that uses polyurethane foam to raise and correct concrete slabs. The material is injected under the concrete slab, where the expansive properties of the material go to work.

“We can do non-invasive work, raising and leveling concrete pads,” Meyer says. This is particularly useful where the ground has settled or lifted over the years. In colder climates like the Minnesota one where ACI is based, frost is a major cause of unwanted settling or buckling and now there is a handy solution.

“It’s very useful in residential areas where they don’t want to redo the whole sidewalk, but they need to fix it because they have upheaving here with all of the frost,” says Meyer. “It’s a good tool and we’re starting to push that to customers.”

Built on trust
Just like trust from customers who have come to depend on ACI for quality work, service, and professionalism, trust within the operations has been an important aspect of the company’s success and is essential to supporting it through this current merger.

Meyer personally knows the insecurity and skepticism that accompanies mergers, and he is working hard to put the team at ACI at ease, making clear, and demonstrating by his actions, that their best interests are protected in the process.

“They’re looking forward to having a structure, reporting systems, and things like that, but at the same time, they’re nervous about having somebody in safety and being watched, and what’s going to happen if they are going to be disciplined out there—how is that new safety person going to work?”

“The commitment is top-down from our President, our CEO, our Director of HR,” he says. “They met with as many crew members as they could individually to see what their concerns were. They already started that foundation for me and now I can go further.”

Since Meyer is the first full-time safety professional for ACI (and ACS), much effort has gone into ensuring that the team members trust him and his approach to safety, an important part of the adoption of a new safety program or culture.

He notes, “I’ve talked to the crew members about that, explaining my philosophies and how I operate, and now that they know who I am and what I’m about we can have good conversations about where we take safety from here. So, my big challenge is, let’s take this to the next step.”

By building a bond with the crew based on commitment to people and their safety, his goal is to ensure everyone returns home safely at the end of each day and this, in turn, has created a buy-in from team members company-wide.

This buy-in starts with the institution of a strong feedback loop and reporting system backed by a commitment to take concerns seriously. There is also a greater emphasis on on-time reporting and near-miss reporting to get an accurate snapshot of safety performance.

So far, Meyer sees safety on every worksite he visits. “The guys in the field are very committed to safety. The crews actually care about their safety and the other crews, the other guys and their safety, and what they’re doing out there, so there’s good commitment from the ground up,” he says.

The crew not only take pride in themselves but also in the collective work they do. A large part of that is knowing that a safe job site is the first step of a job well done and will reflect in the company’s experience modification rating (EMR).

When EMR and accident rates are low, the workforce can be better focused on the performance of their craft on site. From the basics of safety to the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), to maintaining a safe worksite, ACI is about more than a job well done; there is a reputation of thirty years to be upheld.

Elevating safety
Meyer is taking his passion for safety and infusing the company culture with that same level of enthusiasm. He has become a constant presence and voice for the crew members when it comes to safety on the worksite, and his safety initiatives are backed wholeheartedly by the company’s leadership.

Another aspect of Meyer’s work is setting the stage for an expanded safety program he can scale with the company as it grows. Once ACI and ACS are operating as a single entity, there will naturally be future opportunities for expansion which means the present safety program forms the safety blueprint from which the company’s success will spring unimpeded.

For Meyer, the goal is, “being able to refine this merger and then streamlining it in another company, making it better and making it smoother; learning from our mistakes and learning from our lessons with this one and getting them vested sooner. That will be a big priority.”

In the meantime, Meyer, who is new to the sector, hopes to learn how to do every job found on a worksite to better understand the ins and outs of what ACI does, and through this inclusive lens develop a safety program that leads the way. He says, “I want to know what they go through. I want to know what they see when they are out there; what their mindset is,” which will better enable him to anticipate an entire company’s needs, delivering an intuitive safety program that will stand the test of time.

The post Building a Blueprint for Safety<p class="company">ACI Asphalt & Concrete</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“One of the new and emerging markets that we’re focusing on is the conversion of former commercial and government spaces into residential spaces,” states Health and Safety Manager Scott Jenkins.

The company has also been increasing staffing. “We’re looking at hiring project coordinators especially. We’re working with local colleges and universities to bring in co-op students, and we’re seeing a lot of international students with great experience in their countries that we’re trying to fold into Canadian construction culture,” Jenkins continues.

Bassi maintains three divisions: tenant fit-up and renovations; building restoration; and environmental services and disaster recovery. The tenant fit-up and renovations division handles construction management and general contracting, with everything from budgeting and scheduling to site and risk management and design/build. The building restoration division performs masonry, caulking, concrete forming, finishing, placing, structural repairs, cladding restoration, and waterproofing. The environmental services and disaster recovery division, meanwhile, deals with drain backups, burst pipes, floods, water-damaged floors, and mould infestations, and works closely with insurance companies. This branch can also provide demolition and rebuild services, air duct cleaning and emergency roof repairs.

The company primarily works on projects in Eastern Ontario with occasional forays into Quebec, and the commercial, institutional, and residential sectors bring in the most revenue at present.

Bassi strongly emphasizes quality workmanship and the well-being of its staff. New hires are put through a comprehensive company orientation that includes a review of health and safety rules. Once they get to a worksite, new employees receive a follow-up orientation led by the site supervisor, who points out hazards and provides more information. Frontline workers are given the personal protective equipment they require to work safely.

The company has embraced the precepts of the Certificate of Recognition (COR) program, as set by the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA), an Ontario organization. COR consists of a series of strict protocols for managing health and safety issues. Some Ontario communities require COR registration as a prerequisite for construction companies applying for municipal contracts.

COR is “a multi-year endeavour,” says Jenkins. “We want to get as close to right as possible on the first try because failure is an option but it’s not an option we want to explore. There are requirements for external audits, and we want to be prepared so when we get to those audits, we pass with flying colours. So we’re taking our time with the development of our program, and we brought on some new staff to assist in the development,” he shares.

As Health and Safety Manager, his role “first and foremost, is the protection of the worker and to ensure that everyone on every work site goes home safely every single day. My second priority is to protect Bassi, as an employer, from risk associated with health and safety and ensure a robust and comprehensive health and safety management system is in place.”

Bassi Construction has adopted “industry best practices from a variety of organizations, partners, and industry professionals,” to create training protocols for topics such as ladder, scaffolding, heavy equipment operation, and electrical tool safety, he adds. Workers are bonded for $50 million through HUB International, a leading insurance brokerage, and the company has certification from the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration (IICRC), a Vancouver non-profit that sets standards for industry.

This dedication to safety, certification, and quality is central to the company’s enduring success. The company traces its origins to Mario Bassi, who immigrated to Canada in the late 1950s and took work as a mason in the Ottawa area. He founded the firm that bears his name in 1963 and it continues to thrive to this day. Then as now, Bassi Construction adheres to a customer-first philosophy.

“It’s all about serving the clients in the best way possible to ensure they are satisfied not only with the end results but the project delivery as well,” Jenkins explains. “When you’re committed to working with your clients in that way, you can build strong relationships with them. It gets to the point where clients will call directly instead of going out to tender because they know they can trust the Bassi name.”

Keeping ahead of the curve has also been instrumental to the company’s success. As Jenkins notes, technology is having a huge impact on the construction sector.

“What we’re seeing is the elimination of paper from the workplace. This is a trend you saw in IT environments years ago, but it’s [now] being implemented in construction. Everything from timekeeping and employee time sheets to safety documentation is going digital. We’re seeing a lot of tool and equipment manufacturers providing apps that pair to equipment in the field.”

The Operations Manager, for example, can log onto an app that provides live performance metrics for equipment at worksites. Similarly, the company affixes QR codes to its equipment to streamline inspections. Someone performing a daily equipment review does not have to “chase down a paper of paper to go through the inspection. Now they’re able to lock into a piece of equipment, scan a code with their phone, and it takes them right to the form. They fill it out and it’s filed right away,” explains Jenkins.

Inspection reports and live updates are transmitted directly to him, among other company officials, which makes it easier to monitor and enforce health and safety regulations. “If I identify gaps or deficiencies as the day is progressing, I know specifically who I have to call or target and get [the situation] rectified right away,” he says.

Of course, COVID continues to have a lingering impact. While the firm no longer employs the controls it put in place at the start of the pandemic, it follows COVID protocols on job sites if the customer so requests, and the pandemic has made itself felt in other ways as well. “In terms of supply chain, obviously inflation is the big thing that has come out as a result of COVID-19. We’re experiencing inflated prices for basic goods and services we require for delivering on projects,” says Jenkins.

With summer coming, Bassi is aiming to have 150 employees in place for peak construction season. As for new hires, “We’re [flexible] in what we’re looking for. As I mentioned, we’re onboarding international students from every corner of the world. We’re all about teaching people; we want to give people the opportunity to learn and come up in their own space so they feel comfortable and confident with their abilities and skills,” Jenkins says.

Qualifications depend on the position, but in general, “We look for people that have a can-do attitude and the ability to think critically. We’re not looking for worker robots. We want people who are able to look at a situation, evaluate the best thing to do, and who know when to stop and ask questions,” he continues.

A strong team is important as the company continues to land high-profile projects. Current work includes 1600 James Naismith Drive, Ottawa, the former corporate office for TD Canada Trust. Named after the man who invented basketball, this facility is being converted into residential apartments. Bassi Construction is serving as the construction manager, “overseeing all construction activities for the entire project,” says Jenkins.

The team recently finished “a very cool project at Carleton University,” involving a student academic facility. The Carleton University Future Learning Lab is a cutting-edge space that will give students easy access to technology. The assignment involved electrical, lighting, and HVAC work, among other duties. Bassi served as the general contractor for the project.

Now that public events have resumed after COVID lockdowns, the Bassi team is making the rounds of various trade shows. They attended the Canadian Concrete Expo earlier this year and are looking to take part in the Ottawa Home and Garden Show and local renovation shows. Bassi also participated in an Algonquin College Career Fair, “which is where we scooped up some of those great co-op students we’re looking for,” states Jenkins.

Onboarding co-op students is one way Bassi is dealing with what it considers its biggest non-COVID-related challenge: “finding labour, retaining labour. We’re looking at engaging at the worker level and finding out what workers are seeking in great employers. We’re spending a lot of time and energy in making sure our workforce is happy.”

Labour issues aside, Jenkins envisions a highly productive future. “In five years, I think we’re going to be focused on doing what we already do but just getting better at it and refocusing on core services, re-establishing ourselves as the leader in the space.”

The post Reflecting on 60 Successful Years<p class="company">Bassi Construction</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Established in 1994, the firm employs more than 200 architects in offices in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Denver, with a variety of projects that include the National September 11 Memorial, The House at Cornell Tech, urban infrastructure and master planning projects, high-density mixed-use developments, multi-family projects across all incomes, hotels, corporate headquarters, and buildings for non-profit, institutional, and educational clients all over the world.

It is Handel Architects’ work in the Passive House field, however, that has helped the company make its mark. More than just energy-efficient structures, buildings certified as “Passive House” use up to 60 percent less total energy, and up to 85 percent less dedicated heating and cooling energy, than conventional structures.

Passive House buildings offer a better interior environment and superior indoor air quality via fresh, filtered ventilation to every livable room around the clock, and quieter interior conditions due to a heavily insulated and tight façade. Additionally, they improve the longevity of building materials and offer outstanding thermal comfort.

For Handel, its focus on the Passive House sector took shape in 2013 when the company teamed up with two developers, Hudson Companies and Related Companies, to present concepts for new student residences to Cornell Tech.

“We had a whole slew of sustainability ideas in that proposal, one of which was Passive House,” says Principal Deborah Moelis. “Everyone was interested in Passive House, so it was somewhat of a perfect storm in that the client was extremely interested and they really wanted to execute it.”

One of the most energy-efficient buildings in the world and the biggest and tallest residential structure ever constructed to Passive House principles, The House at Cornell Tech is part of the 2.1 million-square-foot technological campus recently built on Roosevelt Island in New York City. The campus’ residential building, The House, was built in accordance with Passive House Institute (PHI) guidelines, which significantly lowers energy use while fostering a healthier and more comfortable living environment for a fraction of the energy expenses of conventional buildings.

As Handel’s Director of Sustainable Design, Louis Koehl, explains, “The goals of Passive House design offer a great parallel to Handel’s sustainable design approach. Passive house looks to optimize the whole building to achieve verifiable occupant comfort and energy reduction outcomes. Our sustainable design approach is similarly outcome-based. We look at our whole practice to identify opportunities to improve the performance of our work and allow us to create the healthiest, most sustainable homes and buildings for the broadest range of people.”

With this approach in mind, Handel is also intensely invested in affordable housing, exemplified in the groundbreaking Sendero Verde project. Offering inhabitants of East Harlem a “community of opportunity,” Sendero Verde, a mixed-use multi-building project in East Harlem, New York City, was chosen under the City’s SustainNYC program, which aims to develop highly sustainable, affordable housing for New Yorkers without sacrificing design quality.

The project will include large amounts of community space, retail space, and outdoor gardens in addition to 709 designated affordable Passive House units.

“What’s unique about that project is it’s 100 percent affordable, and it’s 100 percent Passive House,” says Moelis. “It’s almost done, and when it comes online, the whole world will see that this is feasible on a large scale for low-income multifamily housing.”

While Cornell was radical because it was the largest in the world at the time, what’s groundbreaking about the Sendero project is that, as affordable housing sponsored by New York City together with private developers, it will show the whole world future possibilities in the field.

“Handel has really established itself as a leader in this type of design,” Moelis says, which includes other notable projects such as the Passive House dormitory at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and a 1.8-million-square-foot building in Boston—of which the 800,000 square foot office component will comply with Passive House standards—that, once complete, will be the largest Passive House office building in the world.

Together with offering a strong, high-performance enclosure that enables airtightness, windows with extraordinarily low U-Values, continuous insulation, and thermal bridge-free detailing that results in excellent R-Values, Passive Houses also boast high-performance low-energy heating and cooling systems, and bring constant fresh air ventilation with heat recovery, balancing exhaust and supply ventilation within 10 percent of one another.

It all sounds like a win-win—so why isn’t everyone embracing this way of building?

“Like anything else, change is difficult for people, especially in the construction industry,” says Moelis. “Builders are used to doing things the same way and some builders, developers, and owners just don’t embrace change very well.”

Koehl agrees. “Education is the key to change at the scale we need it, and architects have real power here,” he says. “We can educate clients by proposing innovative solutions with verifiable outcomes, educate the construction industry through promotion of new standards and technologies, educate policy-makers on the benefits and hurdles of certain legislation, educate our staff by sharing challenges and successes and by providing opportunities for engagement at all levels. We don’t want to collect expertise in a vault, we want to share what we learn and facilitate a conversation that gets information into the minds of the people who can do the most with it.” To this end, “We are actively involved in several industry organizations focused on decarbonizing buildings, standardizing criteria for healthy materials, addressing embodied carbon, and expanding access to healthy homes in several cities.”

The good news is that codes are changing and becoming so aggressive that industry analysts anticipate that this way of building will soon be business as usual. It’s been amazing, Moelis says, to how websites and product lines have matured since Handel started in 2013.

“That’s only 10 years ago, and we’re seeing more of these products come online,” she adds. “It’s a little more expensive, and it’s not familiar to a lot of the decision-makers on these projects. I think they get uncomfortable when they’re in a position where they don’t really know something new. So we work really closely with our clients to explain what’s going on and show them different comparisons so they can see how it’s different.”

“It’s critical,” says Koehl, “that sustainability be incorporated throughout our design process and not something added at the end. Allowing sustainable design decisions to track the broader project evolution increases opportunities for innovation and education.”

And clients are getting on board. “We’re working on senior housing for a great open-minded client who really wants to make Passive House work for senior housing and be affordable,” she says. “We’re going to do everything we can to make that project work and include Passive House.”

The company’s Passive House work is, says Koehl, “a great example of our effort to be a sustainable design leader—this is an evolving challenge and we are constantly looking to collaborate with clients, communities, and industry organizations to shape the next frontier of sustainable design… Sustainability is not just about zero energy and fossil fuels; it is also about human health and happiness. Sustainable buildings support sustainable lives!”

“It’s a healthier interior environment that contributes to the overall wellness of those who live in a Passive House,” Moelis agrees. “You’re getting fresh-filtered air into each room 24/7. There’s a reduction in allergies, asthma, a number of health conditions. You’re also separated from the exterior from an acoustical standpoint, which is unbelievably obvious and useful, especially in New York City.”

Koehl makes a distinction—and a connection—between the experience of a building and the performance of that building, and believes that both are crucial for sustainability. “Daylight, fresh air, non-toxic materials, a place for quiet—all play as important a role in building a sustainable home as an efficient HVAC system,” he says.

Certainly, Handel Architects boasts a host of LEED awards, from silver to platinum, but Moelis stresses that LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is different from Passive House. While LEED is more of a checklist—and great for buildings overall—Handel likes to employ Passive House for the building and the building systems, and then overlap LEED for homes for the interior or a similar program, which helps make an even better building from the standpoint of materials, and for unit-to-unit separation.

“Passive House looks at the building holistically,” she says. “You can look at your building and your energy model and push and pull as you want; the energy model allows us to deliver a building design that works aesthetically and meets Passive House criteria.”

Passive House isn’t only environmentally beneficial through the reduction of loads and so using less energy, it also provides safety and security during power outages or potential natural disasters.

“If you close your windows in a Passive House, you should be okay for many hours or days, which is very important, especially for the elderly,” Moelis says. “If the grid goes down, you’ll still stay at a nice temperature, so in that sense, it’s quite resilient.” Passive House also protects the actual structure of the building, as no dirt, dust, or bugs are getting in through the walls.

Starting from a place of no experience in Passive House construction to now being responsible for the world’s largest Passive House projects is a huge achievement for Handel. Put it down to dedication, innovation, and getting things to happen.

“Learning about new systems and materials is always challenging,” Moelis says. “We always want to make sure we’re up to speed.”

Being up to speed includes being ready for the upcoming Local Law 97, designed to limit the level of carbon emissions from New York City’s buildings. Going into effect in 2024, the law will serve to penalize builders based on the amount of carbon dioxide a building emits. “We’re all trying to reduce the amount of carbon that’s going into the air, and Local Law 97, once it comes into effect, is going to be a wake-up call for quite a few owners.”

Existing buildings will need to be retrofitted and new buildings will need more innovative ways of reducing their carbon footprint, she says. The first step is not to use gas or oil, and for the United States to clean up the production of electricity, which is still largely done through burning coal and fossil fuels.

“As architects, we can only set up the building to use electricity; whether that electricity is clean or dirty is really up to the government,” Moelis says. “While much of the grid is dirty right now, within the next 30 years we’re hopeful it will become clean. That’s why it’s imperative that we now to convert our buildings to electric in anticipation of clean electricity. It’s the only hope. We know that burning fossil fuels will never be clean, so we’re hoping hydro and solar and geo and wind get us there.”

Education and marketing play a role as well, and while that might be slow to take effect, enacting stricter codes will help speed up a necessary change. As Koehl puts it, “We know a sustainable future requires contribution from every corner of our industry, so there is real value in bringing this conversation with us to any room we are invited to join.”

Talking about and sharing all the aspects of Passive House as much as possible, whether in person or in print, is another way to keep people informed about its many benefits, she says, as Handel continues to work toward being the busiest and biggest multifamily-architecture firm in the world. “We want every client that’s doing a multifamily building to come to us. We’re always striving for that.”

The company is also eager to expand into other geographic markets. While it does a lot of work in New York, Boston, Miami, Florida, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, it’s really looking to push out further to Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, and Houston.

As for milestones, “We do help a lot of developers with feasibility studies and analysis and such,” Moelis adds. “We’re always hoping that the next one comes along.” Handel currently has a senior housing project in the works—another passion for the firm—that is slated to meet Passive House standards.

In the meantime, the company will continue to do what it does best. “What sets us apart? We don’t take no for an answer,” Moelis says. “We’re constantly pushing through barriers and looking for solutions and trying to push the envelope. And we’re actually getting these projects built.”

Although many companies do a lot of research and strive toward greatness, Moelis says Handel is walking the walk. “These places are getting built, and people are living in them,” she says. “We believe we can improve lives through beautiful, innovative, and sustainable architecture. We want to do that through making places healthy and groundbreaking to live.”

The post Beautiful, Innovative, Sustainable<p class="company">Handel Architects</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Typical projects include jobs for the state of New Hampshire, hospitals, schools, and large housing projects. The close-knit team maintains ongoing relationships with these clients, often earning repeat work.

After featuring the company in 2020, we caught up with Mr. Hiltz this month to learn the latest news and developments. “We’ve expanded our aggregate division quite a bit,” he says. “We’ve probably doubled it in size and volume. We started making new products and advertising it more, and it’s really taken off. The demand for our products has been quite high because we’ve focused on making a real high-quality aggregate.”

The company has also invested in new equipment, increasing the fleet substantially. Over the last twelve months, it purchased eight total pieces of Hitachi equipment from Chappell Tractor. “There are many good manufacturers of heavy equipment,” Hiltz says. “The difference is the support and service we get from Chappell.”

He explains that this service stands out among the competition particularly because Chappell Tractor continues, through challenging times within the industry, to have the personnel and resources to provide the necessary support. In fact, after many years working together, “Chappell Tractor has risen even higher than before; they were already at top level,” he says. “For instance, if I called another dealer [because] I had a machine down, they might tell me it would be three weeks before they can fix us. Chappell is out there that same day, and if they can’t fix us, they’ll bring us a machine to run or to use until they can get us up and running.”

This support is more important than ever in light of recent workforce challenges, which add pressure to adopt advanced technology that, in turn, requires skilled service. “We have equipped skid steers, excavators, and bulldozers with full 3D automation,” says Hiltz. “With the diminished workforce, technology is a must to maintain high levels of production and quality.”

The team has been collaborating with outside businesses with increasing frequency and tangible, positive results. “Collaborating with other companies is more crucial now than ever before,” he says. “We used to self-perform almost everything, and now we look to our subcontractors and vendors who specialize in certain tasks to help us maintain our aggressive schedules and quality work.”

For example, the team outsources 3D model building for project layout and machine guidance. “The 3D model building, we don’t do in-house,” Hiltz says. “Model building is an exercise in which you create a surface so that you can go out and do your layout. You can load your machine with the model, so you can build it with automation, and we sub that out to a company where that’s all they do. So instead of trying to take that task on in-house, once we get a contract, we send these plans over to them and they build the models for us.”

Another company handles safety assessments of each job site. “They do bi-monthly inspections of the projects and repair facility and help us stay safe and legal,” he says. Jeremy Hiltz Excavating Inc. also outsources IT, as well as stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP) permitting and inspections. “All our field inspections for the SWPPP, we sub out,” he says, “and it saves another step for our superintendents.”

When considering the future, workforce shortages will very likely remain a challenge industry-wide. “I anticipate we will not maintain the size we are for much longer due to the labor shortage and the younger generation’s lack of interest in the trades,” Hiltz shares. “We are unwilling to compromise our standards, and as a result, we are prepared to size the company around the number of exceptional employees we can retain and hire. The industry, as a whole, is struggling to find employees. Finding qualified talent is all but impossible.”

The team will continue to rely on the latest technology to offset the lack of workers. “Thankfully, we have embraced technology to fill the void and have accepted our destiny with the workforce,” he says.

While new employees may be in short supply, the company enjoys the support and loyalty of its existing people. “Brian Veazy has moved into our lead project manager role and is doing a great job,” Hiltz says. “We are excited to watch the younger generation step up and excel within our company. We have a new office manager, Kathleen Smith, who came on board a year ago. She brings with her over twenty years of experience in the industry and has our office running smoothly. Her attitude and dedication are exceptional and much appreciated.”

Many employees have stayed with the company long-term, sometimes for decades. Karen Nichols, responsible for office administration, human resources, and safety, has worked here for twenty-six years. Leo Robitaille retired from the company after nineteen years. Tom Lyford and Tracy Fellows have been here for 20 years and counting. Superintendent Jason Hughes has worked for the business for seventeen years. Steve Garland had such a good experience working for Jeremy Hiltz Excavating Inc. that he returned after retiring.

Even when employees leave to pursue other opportunities, they maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with the company. For example, Will Hess, once General Manager, launched his own successful engineering and consulting company. “He still works with us regularly as we contract his firm to assist in many tasks,” Hiltz says.

Jeremy’s son, Colby, has come on board full-time and is proving to be an integral part of the company’s future. “He has become a vital part of our operation,” he says. “He is an accomplished equipment operator and has become proficient with GPS layout and equipment automation.” He has a commercial class A driver’s license and is currently studying for his septic designers and installer license. “Last Fall he attended a road builder class hosted by Caterpillar in Illinois and is always eager to learn new things,” Hiltz adds. “Looking ahead, we will be focusing on estimating and project management. The final goal will be to have Colby run the company one day.”

Having Colby move into that leadership position will fulfill his father’s dream and benefit the company as a whole. “It is important to carry on a family legacy, and it’s also very important that we maintain the company much like it it’s always been so we’re here for the employees,” he says. “We want [them] to continue to be able to work in an environment that they’re used to.”

Armed with a twenty-seven-year track record of success, the latest technology and equipment, a supportive team, and a promising successor, Jeremy Hiltz Excavating Inc. is well prepared for the years ahead. “The future of the company looks promising,” Hiltz summarizes.

The post Continued Success in the Granite State<p class="company">Jeremy Hiltz Excavating Inc.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.