Hathaway Creative Center by Tom Frederick, V.P. of Operations at Wright-Ryan

Years after the last Hathaway shirts were made the rebirth of the Hathaway Center in Waterville is now complete thanks to the incredible efforts of our team members. On November 3rd, Maine General Health occupied the third floor of this incredible mill building on the Kennebec River after a sprint to the finish by upwards of 150 construction workers.

After a lengthy preconstruction period WR started cleaning out the old mill building and installing new windows in late winter of 2008. Structural renovations started in the spring. As summer loomed, work on the new wall framing had to stop due to changes which were being negotiated between the owner and Maine General. Numerous meetings were held to coordinate the drawings and determine the most cost effective way to execute the work. On August 5th the final drawings were received by WR but little did we know of the challenge to come.

Maine General, which is one of the largest hospital and medical service providers in the state, has had staff located in Waterville for years. They were occupying space in several different buildings throughout downtown Waterville. Unbeknownst to us, several of the leases for these properties expired on November 1, 2008. The owners of the Hathaway Mill approached WR and asked us to do the near impossible – take a shell of an old mill building that had no boiler plant, HVAC system, elevator, electrical system, walls, flooring, etc. and made it habitable in a little over 12 weeks!

Because of who we are and our dedication to our clients and because we saw that both the owner and Maine General were in a tough spot we accepted the challenge. We had a series of meetings with our subcontractors and developed an extremely aggressive set of milestones. We also met with City of Waterville officials and told them of our predicament. They cooperatively worked with us in developing a minimum set of life safety requirements in order to occupy the building. The last few weeks were a blur of activity as construction lasted up to 18 hours a day.  The end result was the exactly what the owner and Maine General needed. They were able to vacate their old leases and take up residence in their beautiful new space.

Special mention needs to go to our team members who helped execute this great challenge. They include Bruce Morgan and Dan Chipman, Superintendents, Chuck Hardes, Assistant Superintendent, Sam Perry, Gary Phillips, Al Messier, and Jody Belliveau, Field Carpenters, John Moynihan, Project Engineer, Mike White, Project Manager and Dave Onos, General Superintendent. Our hats go off to all these guys for a job well done.

Work will continue in the mill for several more months as WR continues to complete other areas of the building including 66 apartments on the 4th and 5th floors and new tenant space on the 1st and 2nd floor including new office space for TD Banknorth.

LEED for Homes Platinum- First in Northeast!

Cranberry Ridge, the LEED pilot home we completed in fall 2006, has received the highest rating allowable by the US Green Building Council.  The platinum rating was awarded to the project in April.  There are only two other projects in the country that have been awarded the platinum rating and this is quite an accomplishment.

LEED for Homes encourages buildings with small footprints and therefore gives additional points for little spaces.  We knew that Cranberry Ridge would lose points for having 3200 square feet.  Summary of points received:

Innovation and Design (9 points) We received points for having a third- party durability inspection and innovative, regional design. 

Location and Linkage (3 points) The project avoided an environmentally sensitive site.

Sustainable Sites (15 points) The landscaping was native and remained permeable.

Water Efficiency (10 points) The fixtures used in the home were of the highest efficiency.

Energy and Atmosphere (27 points) The project exceeded Energy Star requirements with third-party testing.

Materials and Resources (14 points) WR selected environmentally preferable products and used advanced framing techniques.

Indoor Environmental Quality (15 points) The project featured a high performance fireplace, a dedicated outdoor air system with heat recovery, sophisticated timing controls and a blower door test rating of 0.12.

Awareness and Education (2 points) A comprehensive homeowners manual was created and the home received public attention.

Updated Comments

Nu-Wool Wallseal insulation installed by WarmTech Solutions was used in the exterior walls and roof of the house. Wallseal cellulose insulation is a low moisture spray on densepack application. Wallseal cellulose has an effective
R-Value, which provides up to 40% savings to heating and cooling costs over traditional insulation while providing comfort and sound control for the home.
Nu-Wool cellulose is manufactured from 85% recycled newsprint and 15% borate making it a safe fire retardant. It’s also an EPA registered fungicide prohibiting the growth of mold and mildew and is pest and rodent resistant

Between floors we used batt insulation that has low formaldehyde content.  Formaldehyde is thought to cause cancer. 

By using WarmTech Solutions insulation system, we created a very tight envelope at a reasonable cost while using a very sustainable product.  The insulator will perform a blower door test prior to drywall and at the end of the project to ensure tightness of the building envelope.

Sustainable Flooring

According to the Project Manager, this project contains:

-Ceramic tile floors that are made with recycled glass.  We picked this product because it is resilient and the glass has been recycled from old car windshields, and other post-consumer glass products.  Carpet was not used due to it ability to hold particulates and "cheapen" the air quality in the house. 

-Wood flooring is a local wood product.  FSC was not used due to the thousands of dollars it would have added to the project.  Low VOC finish will be used on the wood flooring.

-We are using cocomats (walkoff mats) at all the entries to reduce contaminants entering the house.  This will assist in better indoor air quality in the home.

Blower Door Test Secures 2 LEED Points

The LEED home on Cranberry Ridge Road in Freeport had its first blower door test completed this week.  A blower door test is done to determine the air leakage in a building.  In order to receive LEED Certification, a home must receive a rating of 0.35 ACH (Air Changes Per Hour) or better.  The way that LEED is currently set up is that projects receive the following points:

0.35 ACH= Mandatory

0.25 ACH or less= 1 point

0.15 ACH or less= 2 points

Our project received a 0.12 which afford us 2 LEED points.  Once the interior trim is installed, our ACH is apt to decrease which is outstanding! 

FSC Lumber Makes It To Maine

Here are a few facts about the carpentry and lumber for Cranberry Ridge:

-Forest Stewardship Certification (FSC) lumber was used to frame the exterior and interior walls of the house.  This lumber is harvested from well-managed forests and can be used towards one LEED point.
-The use of framing lumber was minimized by spacing floor joists, rafters, wall studs at 24" o.c. instead of the industry standard 16". 
-We used a peel and stick sill seal material at the PT plate and low-voc caulk at all potential air infiltration susceptible locations.
-Siding and trim was purchased from a local supplier and harvested within 500 miles of the jobsite, minimizing pollution and consumption caused by excess transportation.  The siding and trim was installed in a rain-screen system (1" air space between siding and exterior wall sheathing.)  This is a very durable construction in that it minimizes the potential for water to rot the structure or enter the house and cause mold harming people within. 
-Interior trim and cabinetry materials are a combination of FSC wood and dakota-burl products which is made from recycled materials and sustainable resources.

Hancock Lumber is now carrying FSC products to supply the demand of this project.  Owners, Architects and Builders are encouraged to use this new resource in the State of Maine!

USGBC-Maine Hosts Private Tour of Two WR homes

Yesterday the Maine chapter of the USGBC hosted a private tour of three environmentally significant homes in the Freeport area.  Attendees included representatives from the Maine State Housing Authority, Department of Environmental Protection, area architects, realtors and builders.

The first home, called the Harmony Opus II, is currently awaiting LEED certified status and submitted for gold level.  The home features bamboo flooring, paperstone countertops, dual pressure flushing toilets, balloon framing, ICF and a geothermal system.  Chris Briley of Green Design Studios and Joshua Fedorka of Symphony Construction led the informative tour.

The second home on the tour was the Cranberry Ridge project on Wolfs Neck Road.  It was designed by Richard Renner Architects and is being built by us (Wright-Ryan).  This project is still under construction, will be submitting for gold certification and is currently for sale.  The tour, led by Ian Parlin of Richard Renner Architects, and Ben MacDonald of Wright-Ryan Construction, concentrated on the passive solar design + pv panels, advanced framing techniques, radiant heating system and cellulose insulation.  There will be other tours when the project is further along.

Lastly, the tour stopped by the Ridge House in South Freeport.  This home, designed by Winton Scott Architects has been featured on New England Cable News in their Dream House show, The Boston Globe, Portland Magazine and Maine Boats, Homes + Harbors.  It was the 2003 recipient of the Maine AIA Award.

LEED Project Focuses on Zero Energy

Things are really shaping up on site now, all framing is nearly complete so it is possible to get a feel for the building mass as well as the interior spaces.

Early in the design process we discussed options for renewable energy sources but were concerned about the initial cost. Recently Wright-Ryan contacted Energyworks of Liberty, Maine to develop a system for solar generated electricity and hot water that is affordable, efficient and works well with our design. Solar systems in this climate are more complicated that in southern climates because of the extremes between winter and summer. In the summer the increased exposure to sun leads to the generation of more electricity and hot water than the house can use, so systems are in place to deal with the excess.

Because the solar water heating system is designed for the cold winter conditions in Maine, there is the problem of too much hot water being generated in the summer. To deal with this excess the garage floor slab is designed to function as a heat dump. Whenever there is too much hot water in the system it will get diverted into a secondary loop of pipes cast into the concrete garage slab. There is no insulation under the slab, and the ground temperature is cooler than the air temperature in the summer, so heat will be transferred into the ground rather than making the garage too hot.

The solar electricity system has a grid-tied inverter so any time the home is generating more electricity than it uses it will send power back into the Central Maine Power grid for others to use. The home's electric meter will measure both incoming and outgoing electricity and the owner is only billed for the balance. The homeowner will see reduced electric bills in the winter and possible no bills at all in the summer. This system has the benefit of allowing your neighbors to benefit from the clean energy created on site!

Architects Comments

Here are some images from a recent site visit. Mike’s crew is working fast to make up for some lost time due to the bad weather we’ve had recently so things are changing on a daily basis. The triple-glazed fiberglass windows had just arrived on site the day before my visit so by the next time I go back I’m sure they will have a few in place.

From the interior you can see some of the advanced framing techniques which save materials and actually contribute to a better insulated building. Headers over window and door openings in the exterior walls are kept to the outside face of the wall to allow insulation on the inside, and in non-load bearing exterior walls no headers were used at all thus allowing maximum insulation. Roof rafters, wall studs and floor joists are all aligned vertically to transfer loads directly to the foundation which also makes the system more efficient.

The exterior shot is of the north side of the house where there are few window openings, this is part of the passive solar design to reduce heat loss. Windows on the south elevation are protected by overhangs and exterior sunshades, these were sized to allow maximum sunlight into the house in the winter and to shade the windows in the summer. The large steep roof plays a role in the active solar design by supporting the photovoltaic cells and solar water heating system on the south-facing roof pitch.

I’ll be back on site next week and will return here with more photos and another update.

Architect and Builder Speak Up

Great news readers!  Ian Parlin, project architect for Richard Renner Architects, and Ben MacDonald, project engineer for Wright-Ryan, will be contributing to this blog about the LEED pilot home project on a regular basis.  Now there will be a greater opportunity to learn from the professionals about the process, the challenges and what they might do differently next time.  You can post comments and questions to this blog so feel free to use it as an educational tool.