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Regional News (NECA Boston Chapter)
NECA’s Dagle Electrical Construction Powers at Massachusetts Clean Energy Center Wind Technology Testing Center in Charlestown, MA
First Large Scale Wind Turbine Blade Testing Facility in U.S.; Fellow NECA Contractor Spectrum IT Provides Tel/Data Installations; GC: Turner Construction, Boston, MA; EE: Richard Kimball Company, Boston, MA; Architect: Architerra Inc., Boston, MA
Charlestown, MA – The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center opened the nation’s first large scale wind turbine blade testing facility in Charlestown, Massachusetts in mid-May – the Wind Technology Testing Center (WTTC). NECA Boston Chapter contractor Dagle Electrical Construction Corp. of Melrose provided the facility’s electrical construction services, a project valued at just under $1.2M.
Dagle Electrical’s project scope included installations for the facility’s primary and emergency power, lighting and lighting control systems, fire alarm system and infrastructure for tel/data systems. The contractor also provided temporary power to the site.
BIM Platform
The project was constructed utilizing a BIM platform – all MEP contractors were required to draw their systems in AutoCAD 3D. The design process was reviewed prior to installations by electrical engineering firm Richard Kimball Company of Boston.
In a unique aspect of the project, Dagle installed several miles of conduit, neatly configured around the facility’s interior, as the structure’s cement foundation had been laid prior to electrical installations.
EE High Bay LED Lighting
A highlight of the electrical scope is the WTTC’s energy efficient, intelligent lighting and lighting control system, manufactured by Boston based Digital Lumens. It is comprised of 100 Digital Lumens LED high bay lights, each of which is digitally controllable. The lighting system is engineered to consume 66 percent less energy than traditional lighting systems.
Coordination of specialty trade work was critical, as MEP installations in the 75-foot tall facility (base slab to underside of deck) required the use of several 125-foot boom lifts to access to the overhead work. The Dagle crew met the facility’s lighting installation requirements despite harsh weather off Massachusetts Bay, as lighting installations were made at heights of 86-feet and the exterior sides of the building had not yet been constructed.
The NECA contractor commenced work on the fast-track project in August 2010 and the project was complete in February 2011. Dagle Electrical’s Project Manager Rich Kaiser and Foreman Doug Whelan supervised a field crew of 21 IBEW Local 103 electricians at peak construction, comprised of three foremen, 15 journeymen and three apprentice electricians.
 State-of-the-Art Large Scale Wind Blade Testing Capabilities
The WTTC facility is equipped with three test stands, allowing for testing of three blades simultaneously. It provides capacity for 100 tons of overhead bridge crane and has a full suite of certification tests for turbine blades up to 90 meters in length, including static and fatigue testing, blade material testing, dual axis static or fatigue testing, and quality testing. In addition, as part of its effort to help the wind industry deploy the next generation of onshore and offshore wind turbine technologies, the WTTC will offer the latest wind turbine blade testing and prototype development methodologies, research and development partnerships, blade repair capabilities and hands-on workforce training.
Massachusetts A Leader in Wind Energy
The Mass CEC won the bid for the facility in 2007, and in May of 2009 received funding for the project from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In partnership with with the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Wind Technology Center, Mass CEC began construction of the facility in October 2009 and the facility was opened as scheduled in May 2011. According to the Mass CEC website, approximately 300 construction and engineering jobs were created in transforming an empty parking lot into the world-class wind blade testing facility.
Governor Deval Patrick joined with state and federal officials and leaders in the wind energy field to celebrate the opening on May 18. "To win the clean energy future, our nation and state must enthusiastically embrace the use of large-scale wind turbines in onshore and offshore wind farms," said Governor Patrick. "The Wind Technology Testing Center will help achieve that goal, by doing business with companies from around the world, and advancing the next generation of blade technology."
“The Wind Technology Testing Center will not only strengthen the status of Boston and the Commonwealth as a world leader in wind development, but as a leader in clean tech innovation,” said Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
MassCEC Executive Director Patrick Cloney commented, saying, “The Wind Technology Testing Center is more proof that Massachusetts is leading the clean energy innovation revolution. Our clean energy future will require large-scale wind turbines to support wind projects both on land and offshore, and the WTTC will be at the forefront of developing those turbines.”
Dagle PM Kaiser discussed the project. “Dagle Electrical is proud to have been part of the MassCEC’s design and construction team. GC Turner Construction managed the project very efficiently, enabling Dagle and other subcontractors to meet project schedules.”
Dagle Electrical Construction Corp. is a full service electrical construction company providing services to commercial, industrial, multi-unit residential, transportation and renewable energy projects throughout Eastern Massachusetts. The NECA firm is headed by its president Maureen Dagle. In August, Dagle Electrical provided electrical services and equipment to Project Stand Down at IBEW Local 103’s facility in Boston in support America’s returning armed service veterans. This is the fourth consecutive year the NECA firm has supported Project Stand Down. Dagle is currently nearing completion the JFK Library addition and renovation project and underway with the Massport Economy Parking facility which will include a solar installation.
Medway Middle School celebrates adding solar panels
NECA Boston contractor Broadway Electrical provides solar installation – Milford Daily News, 10/7/11
By Whitney Clearman/Daily News staff
Broadway Electrical Co.'s Jeffrey Wootan, left, president Jonathan Wienslaw, and Larry Hurwitz, right, visit Medway Middle School to celebrate 1,404 solar panels being installed on the school's roof.
The sun shone on Medway Middle School on Thursday, generating electricity, good feelings and a hug for Mother Earth.
At a ceremony in the auditorium celebrating 1,404 new solar panels on the building's roof, students learned that the array will provide the school with clean energy as well as lower electric bills.
Assistant Superintendent David Verdolino tried to get students to understand the significance of the work.
"So why are we here today?" he asked the students, some of whom are members of the school's "Green Team," a club dedicated to helping the environment.
"Maybe our parents helped pay for it?" one student asked.
"So we can learn about solar panels," answered another.
"My answer is because you are the ones with the most to get out of this," Verdolino said. "Let it be motivation that you can make a difference."
Medway High School added solar panels last year, but the middle school is three times as big a project, Verdolino said. The panels will provide about 70 percent of the school's electricity, school officials have said.
The ceremony, which included speakers from the offices of Gov. Deval Patrick, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-3rd, and state Rep. Carolyn Dykema, D-Holliston, celebrated the completion of the panels' installation.
The panels provide 386,000 watts of energy to the school, said Broadway Electrical Co. CEO Lawrence Hurwitz, whose company installed the array for free. The company will receive tax credits or tax advantages in the years following the project.
Solar work is part of the future of electricity, providing an inexpensive and environmentally sound alternative to other energy sources, Hurwitz said. Even his own company thrives from its benefits, he said.
"We have 100 to 125 electricians, and if we weren't doing solar work, we'd probably be down to almost 50," he told students.
Meg Lusardi, director of the green communities division for the Department of Energy and Resources, said the school was proof that communities are taking the green movement seriously. Gov. Patrick is committed to seeing similar projects, she said.
Through Patrick's Green Communities Act and the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Medway received a $150,000 grant from the federal energy grant program to install the panels. The project was at no cost to the school district or the town.
"When Gov. Patrick came into office, there was less than 4 megawatts of green energy. We're expecting 100 megawatts by the end of the year," Lusardi said.
Boston Chapter Members Meet with Rep. Stephen Lynch – Discuss Legislative Issues
June 29, 2011 – Boston NECA board members met with Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-MA 9th District) on Monday, June 27 to discuss legislative issues of concern to responsible contractors, including preserving the Davis-Bacon Act, the continued use of Project Labor Agreements, repealing the 3 percent withholding tax on government work, modifying the estate tax, extending tax incentives for renewable energy and efficiency development, and cracking down on dishonest employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors.
Photo (L-R): NECA Boston Assistant Executive Manager Matt Lash, State Electric's Ronald Koning, Jr., Broadway Electric's Lawrence Hurwitz, Rep. Stephen Lynch, Lan-Tel Communications' Joseph Bodio, E.S. Boulos' Thomas Driscoll, J.F. White Electrical's Gregory Sapochetti, and NECA Boston lobbyist Jim Smith.
Nearly 500 Boston Area Electrical Industry Professionals Attend NECA Boston / IBEW Local 103 Electrical Industry Night
February 7, 2011 – Dorchester, MA – The NECA Boston/IBEW Local 103 Industry Night and Foreman Training Update was held at the Local 103 Union Hall in Dorchester, MA on February 7, drawing approximately 500 electrical industry professionals from Eastern Massachusetts. The event featured a tradeshow, product demonstrations, seminars, and a keynote address by noted construction industry motivational speaker, Mark Breslin. It was attended by electrical and telecom contractors, foremen, field supervisors, project managers, and estimators.
Exhibitors included prominent electrical and telecommunications industry manufacturers and distributors: Accu-Tech, Appleton Electric, Commscope, DBI-Sala Fall Protection, Erickson Temporary Power, Graybar, Greenlee Utility Division, Greenlee Tools Electrical Division, Honeywell Fire Alarms, Klein Tools, Milwaukee Tools, Riverside Protective Apparel, Salisbury PPE, and Southwire-Maxis.
Wentworth Institute of Technology and the Arioch Center @ Wentworth also exhibited. The acclaimed engineering college is partnering with NECA Boston Chapter, offering an Advanced Training for Construction Management continuing education program and an annual scholarship program. The Arioch Center @ Wentworth has also joined forces with IBEW Local 103, NECA and JATC Boston to offer an Associates Degree program in Applied Science in Engineering Technology (AENT) to graduates of the JATC Inside Wiremen Apprenticeship Program.
The diverse educational component of the event, which also served as a Foreman Training Update session, included a seminar conducted by Lutron Electronics, an industry leader in lighting control systems. Appleton Electric provided a product demonstration of fittings and lighting in hazardous locations. Milwaukee Tools presented a new product demonstration on innovations in electrical tools. Salisbury provided a presentation on ARC flash protection and PPE. And, DBI-Sala discussed hands-on site-specific issues relating to fall protection equipment.
Mark Breslin, the principal of Breslin Strategies, Inc., and a 4th generation construction contractor who has also served as the CEO of the Engineering and Utility Contrators Assn., presented a dynamic seminar, “Foreman 101 – Our Road to The Future.” The presentation centered around electrical industry foremen being professional leaders and high performance motivators, as well as coaches and mentors. He discussed the numerous critical aspects of electrical industry projects for which foremen and women are responsible: safety, materials, labor, training, schedules, client satisfaction and profit. As such, he focused on the importance to encourage innovation, boost morale, and reward productivity.
NECA Boston has recently Conducted "Managing Field Productivity" Seminar
West Newton, MA – NECA Boston Chapter has scheduled a "Managing Field Productivity To Improve the Bottom Line" seminar for NECA members. The seminar was conducted by instructor, Awad Hanna, Ph.D, P.E, an Associate Professor in the Construction Administration Program and the Department of Civil Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin. Topics included productivity measurements and principles of improvement, identifying, quantifying and allocating risk factors affecting productivity, pre-job and pre-task planning, and tricks of the trade to cost-effectively measure field productivity.
1/20/10 – New England Real Estate Journal
E.G. Sawyer Co. Provides Electrical Construction of
Dana-Farber Yawkey Center for Cancer Care
12/17/2010 (PDF Download)
Cruz Electric on Schedule with Hamilton Canal District Project in Lowell
Dagle Electric Installs I-495 Solar Panels Electric Alert Board
NECA Expands Online Safety Resources
State Electric Completes $1.9M Electrical Construction of Brandeis University’s Mandel Center for the Humanities
NECA Contractor Teams with GC: John Moriarty & Associates, Winchester, MA; EE: Buro Happold, New York, NY; Architect: Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects, Boston, MA
Woburn, MA – State Electric Corp. (SEC) of Woburn, MA has completed the $1.9M electrical construction of Brandeis University's new 50,000 sq. ft., four-story Mandel Center for the Humanities (MCH). The facility opened, as scheduled in August 2010, as Brandeis commenced conducting classes in the Center at the start of the 2010/2011 academic year.
The comprehensive electrical project parameters included State Electric’s installations for primary and emergency power, fire alarm system, interior and exterior lighting/lighting control systems, and electrical fit-up of all interior spaces. The electrical construction project was valued at $1.9 million.
The Center features a 98-seat theater/lecture hall; a 48-seat, tiered classroom; two (2) 24-seat seminar rooms, a reading room; a large, multipurpose space for talks, gatherings and special events; and, a roof garden and courtyard. It also houses faculty offices and open-office workstations.
In the earliest phase, the project required State’s extensive planning, layout and coordination efforts for conduit installation. Conduit was installed within the poured-in-place concrete structure, necessitating close coordination with the general contractor John Moriarty and Associates, and other trades. The NECA contractor provided CAD coordination drawings and field measurements to avoid conflict with any of the facility’s other major systems, which were concurrently being planned and installed on an aggressive project schedule. SEC also installed pour-over cellular raceway systems for telecom and power, and later, raceway systems for lighting and the fire alarm system.
For the building’s power requirements, State furnished and installed the primary transformer and secondary cable, as well as new switchgear. For emergency power, SEC retrofit and installed an existing unused generator from another facility on the Brandeis campus. The contractor also provided temporary power to the site in the initial project phase.
A focal point of the contemporary, glass facade structure is the dynamic architectural lighting package designed in the facility’s three-story atrium lobby. Here, State Electric furnished and installed high-end Custom Metalcraft LED fixtures designed with an open-concept finish. The custom LED lighting is vibrantly accentuated by a Color Kinetics LED lighting system and controlled via a state-of-the-art Lutron lighting control system that provides programmable scene control.
State Electric's Vice President and Sr. Project Manager, Brendan Dickie and General Foreman Kevin Demarco supervised an electrical field crew of 8 IBEW Local 103 electricians during the year and a half project.
The Mandel Center for the Humanities was funded principally by a $22.5 million gift from Jack, Joseph, Barbara and Morton Mandel and the Mandel Foundation, based in Cleveland, Ohio.
The MCH design integrates open study spaces to help promote the free exchange of ideas. According to Adam Jeffrey, Dean of Brandeis Arts and Sciences and faculty members, “The central vision of the Mandel Center for the Humanities is a commitment to integrate interdisciplinary work across the humanities and humanistic social sciences.” Mandel Center Director Ramie Targoff said, “The new building provides the campus with a beautiful home for interdisciplinary events - classes, lectures, conferences and films, as well as ordinary conversations - among faculty, graduate students and undergraduates.”
State Electric Project Manager Brendan Dickie commented on the project, saying, “State Electric is proud to have helped build this dynamic Brandeis facility and to have worked closely with the general contractor, Moriarty, and the Brandeis project management team to meet project requirements. It required a high level of coordination and planning, and both the GC and Brandeis were key to enabling us to achieve quality electrical installations.”
The Mandel Center project is the fourth Brandeis facility for which State Electric has provided electrical construction services in recent years. Other projects have included the Shapiro Admissions Building (completed in 2009), the Heller Building, and Schneider Building..
10/10/2010 (PDF Download)
9/28/10
Spectrum Integrated Technologies Provides Fully Integrated Lobby Security Systems at 100 High Street, 225 Franklin Street, One Post Office Square, and 1 Memorial Drive in Cambridge
Property Owner/Manager: Blackstone Properties, Chicago, IL; GC: Shawmut Design and Construction --- Boston, MA – NECA Boston Chapter membeer, Spectrum Integrated Technologies (Spectrum IT), the security and telecom division of J. & M. Brown Co. Inc. of Jamaica Plain, MA, has completed the design and installation of fully integrated visitor entry security systems at four Blackstone Properties’ buildings in Boston and Cambridge – 100 High Street, 225 Franklin Street and One Post Office Square in Boston, and 1 Memorial Drive in Cambridge.
The state-of-the-art lobby/entry security systems, designed by Spectrum specifically for high-rise applications, tie each property’s security sub-systems, including electronic turnstiles, card access, elevator control, intercom, and digital CCTV into each building’s overall security management system. At 225 Franklin Street, One Post Office Square and 100 High Street, Spectrum also installed the latest in high-rise electronic turnstile visitor entry security systems. All security system solutions were designed to correspond to the buildings’ “Class A” ratings.
The fully integrated lobby security at each of the properties allows expected pre-enrolled visitor’s to gain entry to elevators and destination points within the building via a touch-screen kiosk in the lobby, which is designed with a bar code scanner and reader. Spectrum’s Director of Operations Terry Kilduff and Principal Steve Feldman managed project planning, design, integration and implementation to meet Blackstone Properties unique requirements for entry security at each facility. Security system companies integral to the projects included AMAG, Pelco, Building Engines, and ITS (Interactive Touchscreen Solutions). Spectrum also worked closely with Infrasafe, the national security consultant for Blacktone Properties. Shawmut Design and Construction served as the general contractor for the lobby renovations at all four Blackstone projects.
Spectrum Integrated Technologies also recently provided electronic turnstile security system projects at 101 Arch Street, aand 10 St. James Street in Boston.
08/10/2010 (PDF Download)
07/10/2010 (PDF Download)
06/19/2010 (PDF Download)
Denis St. Pierre of E.S. Boulos Appointed to NECA Manual of Labor Units Committee
West Newton, MA - Denis St. Pierre, Director of E.S. Boulos Company of Westbrook, ME has been renamed to the NECA Manual of Labor Units (MLU) Task Force Advisory and Review Committee. The MLU is the national standard used by estimators for electrical installations of all types. The Committee, headed by NECAÕs Estimating Management Consultant, Robert Mooty, is comprised of 12 electrical industry professionals from NECA member contractors throughout the U.S. St. Pierre represents the New England chapters of NECA (MA, Maine, NH and VT). Selections for the Committee are made by NECAÕs Management Education Institute in consultation with local Chapter Managers and local NECA leadership based on individuals qualifications, experience and knowledge in all aspects of electrical construction.
The MLU manual is published every two years and the 2011 - 2012 MLU Task Force Advisory and Review Committee is considering revisions to: Lighting Systems, Alternative Energy Systems, and Low Voltage/Integrated Building Technologies. In addition, the current MLU Task Force is conducting a strategic review, and analysis of the MLU book and will provide input for inclusions of important technology trends and improvements in project delivery, such as BIM and Prefabrication. In the current 2009 - 2010 MLU, revisions were made to Integrated Building Systems, Hazardous Systems, Outdoor Overhead and Underground Systems, and Alternative Energy Systems.
The appointment to the MLU Committee is St.Pierre's fourth, having served as a member of the Task Force and Review Committee since 2002.
NECA Partners with Wentworth Institute in Advanced Training for Construction Management
Governor Patrick Joins Broadway Electrical as Medway High School Switches to Solar Power
108 Electricians and Telecom Technicians Graduate at 64th JATC Training Ceremony
Dorchester - On June 3 at the 64th Annual Boston JATC Graduation ceremony at Local 103 in Dorchester, 90 electricans and 18 telecom apprentices graduated from the one of the strongest electrical industry training programs in the U.S. NECA Boston Executive Manager Glenn Kingsbury and Local 103 Business Manager Michael Monahan were among the speakers. Kingsbury encouraged the electricians, professional builders, to continue to build both their "skills as craftsmen" and as individuals. And to be guided by the NECA and IBEW "Code of Excellence" both on the job and in the way they live. At the ceremony, James Fahey, a longtime instructor at the JATC, received 1st Annual Russell F. Sheehan Distinguished Service Award. Russell Sheehan, a former Local 103 Business Manager and Trust Fund Administrator passed away earlier this year.
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