WESTFIELD – Following the recent groundbreaking for Westfield State University’s new science center, it may seem to city residents that there is always something being built on Western Avenue.
It’s true. A cursory scan of the University’s Facilities and Operations website lists several past, present and future projects, which include installations, renovations and repairs for several campus facilities.
Everyone knows that any project – from fixing a faucet to constructing a 54,000-square foot-academic building – requires manpower, and skilled manpower at that.
But exactly how many people receive work when Westfield State selects a contractor to work on a project?
“It’s depends on the type of project,” said Dr. Curt Robie, assistant vice president of facilities and operations at WSU. “If it’s a small renovation project, you could only have one or two trades. On a project like the science building, you’d utilize basically every trade – mechanical, electrical HVAC, steel workers, roofers, site folks… it’s a huge number.”
Robie said that when the school built its last residence hall, University Hall last year, there were anywhere between 80 and 175 people working on the building on any given day.
“The trades change as the job goes on. Certain projects you’ll have more site guys on at the beginning, more concrete doing footings and rebar and then that tails off and the next phase comes in,” he said. “There’s a natural progression through the construction of the building.”
While major campus construction projects generally hire large contractors from greater Boston, Robie added that there are usually smaller projects that utilize local contractors.
“We had a local contractor who renovated Scanlon Banquet Hall this summer and at any one time, the most people we had in there was five or six,” he said. “It depends upon the intensity of the project when it goes out to bid.”
This summer, D.A. Sullivan and Sons of Northampton renovated the University’s Davis Hall, a project referred to by Robie as a “summer slammer.”
“That was very intense. We couldn’t start the project until students moved out of Davis since it is a residence hall and we had to finish it before the students moved in,” said Robie. “We had a large number of guys working extended hours. At one point we had people in there 24 hours a day to get the project done.”
“We work on the colleges, hopefully the casino when it comes in, the railroad company that may be coming in to the city of Springfield to build railcars,” said John Scammon of Sheetmetal Workers Local 63 in Springfield. “Schools, insurance buildings, malls… wherever there’s heat and air, that’s us.”
Scammon said that he currently has 496 current members covering western and central Massachusetts, as well as Vermont. For a 54,000 square foot building, such as the new science center at Westfield State, Scammon said his crews might increase in size over time.
“We may start out smaller at first. I may start off with a crew of 12. Sometimes it’s 30,” he said. “It all depends on how fast they want to get the job done. Our push is quality and we go pretty quick with our jobs.”
In addition to the Davis Hall renovations, in which 60 percent of the building, including bathrooms, were made compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act at a cost in excess of $6 million, the university also renovated the banquet facility in Scanlon Hall for just under $200,000, and renovated air conditioning in Parenzo Hall for $1.6 million.
“In the queue, we’re keeping on with the Science Building. It isn’t going to be finished until 2016,” said Robie. “But we’ll be renovating Dickinson Hall and doing the exact same thing we did in Davis.”
Robie added that the school is also working with the state on a possible accelerated energy project which will allow for some upgrades to some existing campus systems.
He is also looking at the reuse of Juniper Park Elementary School as a center for music, theater and art after the city of Westfield’s lease on the building expires in 2015.
“We have $2.8 million in the higher ed capital bond bill a number of years ago that were earmarked for renovations to Dever Auditorium,” he said. “We’re getting design and development drawings to pursue that project. It will make Dever comply with the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board (MAAB) regulations and hopefully some other improvements.”
