Issue #2 | Oct, 2010

   In This Issue...  The latest chapter in the history of Alice Peck Day  By Jack DeGange

People from around the region gathered to help build an Extreme Makeover Home one year ago. 

See photos taken by our freelance photographer Scott Bulger and Local studio photographer Tom McNeill

Regional News

 Trumbull News

  Constructive Images …..

                                                                   The Woodlands at Harvest Hill is the latest chapter in the history of Alice
                                                                 Peck Day Memorial Hospital as one of the Upper Valley’s leading
                                                                 providers of diverse health care services.

                                                                  Since 1996, with the opening of Harvest Hill, its subsequent expansion,
                                                                 and now The Woodlands, APD has expanded its mission as a resource that
                                                                 offers a broad range of medical needs for residents in Lebanon and beyond
                                                                 to address the rapidly growing market of senior citizens in search of a
                                                                 state-of-the-art independent living facility.

                                                                  For Harvest Hill and The Woodlands, as well as numerous other projects
                                                                 on the hospital campus dating back to the 1940s, Trumbull-Nelson has
                                                                 been one of APD’s leading partners as a provider of construction
                                                                 management services.

                                                                  APD considered a number of builders and architects as planning for
                                                                 The Woodlands began nearly a decade ago, “…we were obviously very
                                                                 familiar with Trumbull-Nelson and UK Architects (also of Hanover) and
                                                                 that made a difference,” said Rolande (Ron) Andrews, who served as
                                                                 executive director of Harvest Hill for 14 years and now focuses her
                                                                 attention on The Woodlands, which greeted its first residents in June.

                 “Trumbull-Nelson is very knowledgeable,” said Andrews. “(Project executive) Ron Bauer, Larry Ufford (T-N’s president) and their staff were very responsive, especially when we had to meet some tough deadlines from April to June as we prepared to open.  “Schedule was extremely important, as we had residents who had sold their homes (in anticipation of moving into the new facility).  They all worked hard to keep us happy.

“Addressing the need to serve senior citizens started more

 than 20 years ago with Bob Mesropian,” added Andrews.

 (Mesropian, who died in 2001, was the hospital’s chief -

executive officer for 14 years.) “I’ve grown up with

Harvest Hill and The Woodlands but this is another step in

 fulfilling Bob’s vision for the hospital.”

It’s a far cry from 1932 when, through the bequest of her

home and estate, Lebanon’s first “cottage hospital” opened

 in memory of Alice Peck Day with nine beds and a staff

of three in the Peck homestead.

                 The Woodlands, a $26 million project, has overall space of 167,230 square feet including an underground garage for residents that covers nearly 35,000 square feet. Each residence unit is assigned one underground parking space with outside parking also available for second cars and visitors.

While construction of The Woodlands began with groundbreaking in August 2008, “The planning process goes all the way back to discussions with Bob Mesropian,” said Ron Bauer. “We did a lot of pre-construction analysis to optimize cost efficiencies. And, the site presented some obvious challenges.”

              The building nestles into a hillside that required substantial blasting (test bores didn’t reveal all the existing ledge). “Building the large retaining walls took a lot of coordination to integrate the cuts and fills with building excavation while keeping drainage of the site under control,” said Bauer.

                 A project of this magnitude and complexity requires timely coordination of services with numerous subcontractors (especially Cole Electric, Economy Plumbing and Heating, House of Windsor’s painters and William Wallace Prefab), the client (APD), architects (UK) and project manager (T-N).  Bauer and Andrews agree that despite some inevitable glitches, things worked well during two years of construction.

                 “We (Bauer, T-N project manager Dave Harrison, and T-N site superintendent Dave Rising) met regularly with the APD staff, and the cooperation with the City of Lebanon was as smooth as for any project we’ve done. Whether it was fire, code or public works, there were constant inspections in one area or another. The city would call every day at 10 a.m. to see what was needed and the appropriate inspector would be there at 1 p.m. When an inspection was complete, Dave (Rising) would secure the space with tape to indicate it was OK.”

                 One unusual, though not unique, issue that confronted T-N was the need for an easement and a permit from the Federal Aviation Administration. “The Woodlands is sited beneath the approach path for the east-west runway at Lebanon Regional Airport,” said Bauer. “When it came time to set the top floor, the FAA required that we have a light and flag on top of the crane boom. It took some time but it’s all part of the process.”

                 Distributed over four floors are 66 residential units ranging in size from 792 square feet (one bedroom, one bath) to 2,179 square feet (two bedrooms, two baths, a den/office). The vast majority of units range in size from about 1,100 to 1,700 square feet. Several outside units on the two (front and back) terrace levels have small patios.                                                        

                                                                Every unit has a fully equipped kitchen, a laundry (washer, dryer) and         
                                                                ample closet space. Ruth Orr, one of the charter residents with her
                                                                husband, Dave, noted, “You have to make some tradeoffs, but you                                                                
                                                                always do. We’re all dealing with the transition to a different style of                                                                
                                                                living (from a full-size home to apartment living—
                                                                the Orrs have a 1,620-square foot unit).

                                                               “Our kids miss the size of our home but we have plenty of space.
                                                                We selected a ground-level apartment with a small patio on the north                                                                
                                                                side. I miss the sun but it’s quiet and we can always go to the library or                                                                
                                                                other common areas for sunshine.”

Added Jack Skewes, another charter resident, “My wife Connie and I have a large patio on the south (sunlit) side. It gives us easy outside access for our dog (they’re permitted at The Woodlands) and that was part of our decision process.”

                 The initial residents (about two-thirds of the units at The Woodlands were committed as it opened) had been in the decision-making process since Andrews and her staff began the sales process long before construction actually began.

                 Before and during construction, future residents could make changes to standard apartment features—kitchen counter tops and cabinets, flooring (hardwood versus carpet in rooms other than the tiled kitchens and baths), and paint (antique white is the standard on walls).  That created some scheduling concern for Andrews and the contractors during the countdown to opening. “In fact, we probably offered residents too many options, especially with choice of paint colors,” said Andrews.

                                                                      Predictably, in a facility where an active lifestyle is encouraged,
                                                                     amenities abound. Many of the common areas (the dining room,
                                                                     great room, library and reception area) feature the attractive finishing 
                                                                      that is a trademark of Trumbull-Nelson’s millwork division.

There’s a state-of-the-art exercise room, a year-round
swimming pool and Jacuzzi, a hair dressing
salon, several activity rooms, a chapel-meditation room,
a theater room, a small conference room and a
wellness room .  There are even a couple of
small apartment units designated for guests of residents.

“You have to admire the overall workmanship,” said Connie Skewes. “It’s excellent.”

 Historic Wilder Church -Repurposed as Music Performance and Public Gathering Spot

Industry Update….

Quechee Wastewater Treatment Facility Project Speeds Along
By Kim J. Gifford

Implementing scheduling skills gleaned from experience, Trumbull-Nelson Construction Company is overseeing a timely, $6 million revamp of the Quechee Wastewater Treatment Facility, located off Route 4. Project manager Tony Instasi, credits Trumbull-Nelson’s experience with last year’s Extreme Home Makeover project with the company’s ability to take Essex, Vt engineer, Forcier & Aldrich’s, estimated 15-month schedule for the facility’s upgrade and pull it off in an anticipated eight months.

“We set an aggressive schedule and have held our employees and our subcontractors to that,” says Instasi. “[Site supervisor] Jon McKeon was the superintendent on Extreme Makeover and he put his thinking cap on and tried to think how we could do this more quickly and we’ve been able to do that at no extra cost.”

The project involved upgrading and increasing the capacity of the Quechee plant, built in the 1970s, and changing the method in which the influent is treated. McKeon says one of the greatest challenges has been getting suppliers to comprehend the schedule.  “They are not used to having people move at this speed,” he says.

Rick Menge, Town of Hartford’s Director of Public Works, says the project was part of an overall bond authorization of $8.1 million and includes $600,000 in stimulus money. The Town of Hartford is also doing some work on many of its other pump stations, upgrading the pumps and controls to many of the sewer stations as well.

The current project is the result of a study conducted by the Town of Hartford a few years ago that indicated that the Quechee plant was near capacity and that its equipment was obsolete. The new project upgrades the facility’s lagoon and tertiary filter system for phosphorous removal to a new sequential batch reactor (SBR) system.

“Essentially, the new SBR system does its primary and secondary treatment in a big batch tank and there are two of these tanks so you can alternate one with the other. It’s just a more compact and efficient means of treating wastewater,” says Menge.

The Town of Hartford approved the expenditure of funds to upgrade the facility at the Town Meeting in March 2009 and Trumbull-Nelson broke ground on the project this May. Trumbull-Nelson constructed a 104-foot x 44-foot x 23-foot deep tank to take the place of the lagoon as well as a new headwork’s building to house three different pieces of equipment that help in the processing of the influent. Trumbull-Nelson also built and installed a UV building and two large tertiary filters and has completely renovated the control building using it’s own Butler building franchise products to re-roof it.  “We are also re-equipping their main pump station with new pumps and sewage grinders,” says McKeon.

The Quechee plant was over 30 years old and its wastewater system had been in use for 15 years and was not expandable. McKeon notes that engineers have already planned the next expansion of the new system.

The project also called for the installation of underground pipes and necessary power, telemetry and SCADA systems used for communication and control. The new controls and monitoring systems are state-of-the art and require less hands-on oversight by the technicians. “Before they would have to go out and be dipping, now they can get readouts from the instrumentation,” McKeon says.

As of the beginning of September approximately 90% of the equipment was in place and start-up of the systems had begun. By the end of the month, the plant should be running on the new system, which is “a week ahead of what we thought,” says McKeon.

Word Count: 601

Interested in reading more about Trumbull-Nelson Construction?  Browse past issues of Constructive Images.

 Letter From
 The President

 Fall Safety Tips

 Local News

Insider Stories

Industry Update….

 Local News