Hard hats and white coats
From fully equipped operating and treatment rooms to research laboratories, high-tech classrooms and therapy suites with climbing walls and hopscotch grids, medical teaching facilities demand highly specialized spaces.
Teams must execute complex building plans, install sensitive medical equipment and meet high aesthetic standards — often while working inside aging, occupied buildings.
Not only do these projects require teams to execute complex building plans, install sensitive medical equipment and deliver high aesthetic standards, but they regularly must complete those tasks while working inside aging and occupied buildings.
Modernizing schools
In downtown Baltimore, Temp Air Company is part of the team transforming the first floor of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry into an Ambulatory Surgery Center and replacing old equipment throughout the 105,000-square-foot, 17-year-old building.
Construction of new operating suites, pre-op and recovery rooms, and support spaces involves installation of extensive medical gas lines and a new vacuum system, said Dan Szczygielski, Project Manager at Temp Air. Crews are also piggybacking a new oxygen system onto existing infrastructure, installing a new air handler plus several variable air volume boxes and a sophisticated controls package to manage heating and cooling in different zones.
Due to the complexity of the project, Temp Air, general contractor Quandel/J. Vinton Schafer and other subcontractors did extensive upfront work to identify and address construction challenges and have continued detailed field coordination throughout the project, Szczygielski said.
But the team still had to contend with a mid-project surprise.
“We thought we had all our ducks in a row for the installation of the [dentistry] booms” – the arms that swing over top of dental procedure tables and deliver medical gases, power and other essentials, Szczygielski said. “But when the steel guy came out, he said no, this has to move and that has to move.”
Those unexpected challenges are a common risk in medical education projects which increasingly are occurring inside existing buildings.
At Loyola University Maryland, crews are nearing completion of an 18,000-square-foot addition to the Donnelly Science Center. The project will create new classrooms and laboratories, including a new simulation lab, exam rooms and debrief rooms for the nursing program. It will also install new mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems throughout the 90,000-square-foot building from the 1970s.
Drawings of existing conditions in the building were limited and likely incomplete. The center has experienced multiple renovations and additions over the last six decades. So, the design engineering team did a complete laser scan of the building.
“The laser takes scans every eight to 10 feet and software integrates that information into a single model,” said Kyle Horst, PE with James Posey Associates. “You can then open up the model, walk around inside of it and see exactly where everything is.”
Early, detailed communication with the architectural team is also vital to creating workable design and engineering plans for such projects, Horst said.
“When you’re working with the architect, you have to go space by space and make sure you coordinate each piece of equipment with all the utilities it requires,” he said. “We actually create a utility matrix where we identify every piece of equipment going into that space and create a tag for each piece that has its power requirements and other utility requirements. That makes things a lot easier when we get to the construction phase.”
Uncommon requirements
Project teams also have to understand and create the highly varied — and sometimes uncommon — features that go into some medical teaching facilities.
At McDaniel College, Wagman Construction completed a 20,000-square-foot renovation of Merritt Hall earlier this year to create new facilities for the college’s speech language, pathology, occupational therapy and early childhood education programs.
The project included standard laboratories and classrooms, along with specialized spaces such as treatment rooms, a mobility classroom, gross motor lab, ADA apartment and “a Peds lab that had brackets for swings that hung from the ceiling, a climbing wall and a hopscotch area,” said Melvin Waites, Superintendent at Wagman. “It was a complex project because very different things went into each different room.”
At the College of Southern Maryland, James Posey Associates provided design engineering services for the new Health Sciences Building. The design and construction teams had to deliver an array of facilities — a medical simulation suite designed to resemble a hospital setting, an ambulance bay where ‘patients’ could be delivered to the college and ambulances cleaned afterwards, occupational and physical therapy suites, medical labs and a simulated pharmacy.
In East Baltimore, Windsor Electric is part of the team currently building the new 240,000-square-foot JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health. Designed for research and teaching across 10 academic departments, the building has complex requirements.
“This is the kind of job where BIM is required to map out almost every pipe,” said Michael Mason, Project Manager at Windsor Electric.
The BIM process alone took over a year to complete and, at its height, involved three meetings a week, Mason said.
In addition to the complex building systems, Windsor Electric is also responsible for an extensive, specialty lighting package for the interior and exterior, installing a substation and 10-foot-tall transformers, and bringing power to the new facility.
“JHU has its own campus power system so we had to bring new feeders to this site,” Mason said. “Obviously, we needed to do some outages that would affect multiple other buildings so we had to coordinate with a lot of existing facilities.”
Featured companies: James Posey Associates, Quandel/J. Vinton Schafer, Temp Air, Wagman, Inc., Windsor Electric
New efforts help contain equipment costs
Amid all the high construction costs, equipment costs likely aren’t the greatest cause of stress among contractors. But in a period of limited construction starts and tighter margins, they also can’t be ignored.
After a stretch of higher (sometimes dramatic) price escalation, the rental costs of excavators, cranes, lifts, skid steers, generators and other equipment have been relatively flat over the past year. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, rental rates for industrial equipment rose just two percent in the year ending in June 2026.
Slow construction starts in 2025 prompted some subcontractors to absorb those added costs in order to win work, said Steven Phillips, Senior Vice President of Estimating + Preconstruction at DAVIS Construction. “But with more projects moving forward and some cost increases due to tariffs and the war, we’re seeing subs be a bit more selective this year and increasing their pricing.”
Price volatility, especially connected to fuel costs, is also prompting “more subs to say their proposal is good for 30 days or two weeks,” Phillips said.
In the face of those budget pressures, some construction companies are launching new efforts – and finding new opportunities – to contain equipment costs.
Streamlined sourcing
Early this year, Turner Construction Company established First Equipment Company (FEC) to provide centralized equipment rental and site services on Turner projects.
While large, centralized sourcing can generate price discounts from suppliers, “the opportunity and benefits are much bigger than just the equipment rental rate,” said Adam Siegmann, Northeast Equipment Operations Lead at FEC. “Historically, there has been a lot of waste in this space. A project might have a skid steer sitting onsite two weeks longer than needed, and you end up paying next month’s rent.”
By managing the life cycle of all equipment on projects, FEC can get pieces off rent in a more timely manner, Siegmann said.
The centralized service boosts efficiency by relieving project managers and superintendents from time-consuming responsibilities of sourcing equipment, he said. It can also reduce equipment downtime on sites and improve safety.
Siegmann points to a data center project in Pennsylvania which required more than 60 scissor lifts. Centralized sourcing ensured all lifts were identical and included a safety feature (a laser perimeter system) that Turner prefers.
“In the past, you would have seen a variety of makes and models of scissor lifts on site in different conditions and with different safety features,” he said. “You also would have dealt with the nightmare of different pieces of equipment going down at different times and not knowing who to call for repairs.”
Power plays
After several years of price spikes (up to 36 percent a year), generator costs have also flattened. But the current price point has left contractors with a challenge and an opportunity.
“If you have a large, multi-phase project that is lasting five years or longer, you are looking hard at how do you keep your costs down for temporary power,” said Laura Kelly, Business Development at Kelly Generator and Equipment.
One of Kelly’s clients, Hirsch Electric, recently faced that challenge on the buildout of a senior living community, she said. Kelly Generator was able to compare the cost of renting generators as needed versus buying a generator outright. They determined a purchase was the better financial option. That option was made more attractive by the healthy resale market.
“There are companies whose business model is to buy used, standby generators and resell them,” Kelly said. “When the time comes, we can talk to those resellers and help our clients get the best deal.”
High fuel costs have prompted some contractors to take additional initiatives this year.
“I have seen some larger companies stand up temporary power maintenance divisions,” Kelly said. “They go around to jobsites and do evaluations to make sure generators are properly maintained and are not running when they are not needed.”
At some locations, Turner and FEC have started using hybrid generators which charge battery banks as they run.
“It’s a perfect example of how we are realizing savings on both equipment and fuel costs, while also moving forward on sustainability,” Siegmann said.
Featured companies: DAVIS Construction, Hirsch Electric, Kelly Generator and Equipment, Turner Construction Company
Blackbird Biohub
Some projects deliver big transformations.
On Baltimore Peninsula, DEL Electric was part of a project team that transformed a vehicle maintenance garage into a 31,000-square-foot incubator for emerging biotech companies.
“This used to be a city maintenance building where they fixed dump trucks and trash trucks,” said Richard Plitt, Project Manager at DEL Electric.
Although the site presented crews with a large open space, it also posed industrial challenges.
The first was the concrete floor which was 16 inches thick and covered with a topping slab. DEL and the plumbing contractor would need to cut into the floor in multiple locations.
“It took a very big saw and a lot of time,” Plitt said.
The second was the 19-foot ceilings.
DEL and other members of the project team completed the transformation in a tight, eight-month schedule. Together, they built out multiple wet labs with a total of 90 research benches, over 70 open workstations, multiple collaborative office suites, a vivarium, a CLIA-ready diagnostics facility, a new mezzanine level and an outdoor pavilion.
DEL’s work included installing large quantities of time-consuming, three-section surface wiring raceway, including wiring for electrical, emergency power and data in all labs. The team installed a new fire alarm system and integrated it with the system in the previously renovated and occupied portion of the City Garage building. DEL installed custom lighting through the facility, including extensive, modern lighting controls.
Due to expanded operations in the building, DEL brought an additional 1,200 amp service to the site and crews replaced existing, rooftop air handlers and associated devices.
“The existing mechanical equipment wasn’t sufficient to keep the added space conditioned and to control humidity levels which was a big, important thing,” Plitt said. “They needed a lot of mechanical equipment, including steam generators, for humidity control.”
The project team also had to ensure that labs – which would be outfitted with autoclaves, vacuum pumps and other specialized equipment – had sufficient power plus full backup.
Crews also had to complete the renovation without impacting existing tenants who were also operating research labs. Noisy work was restricted to off hours and outages carefully coordinated with tenants. When crews couldn’t provide backup power during an outage, “we worked as fast as possible,” Plitt said.
The project delivered both a highly sophisticated research facility and a highly attractive one, he said. “It’s a really good looking building with very nice architectural features,” including high open ceilings, meticulously installed electrical and mechanical equipment, pendant lighting and custom millwork.
Featured companies: DEL Electric, Fidelity Mechanical Services
Presenting the 2027 Board Nominees…
Ballots for the 2027 BC&E Board and Executive Committee will be sent out electronically later this month and must be returned by October 19. The new board will be introduced at the Annual Meeting on December 2.
The 2027 Executive Committee remains the same and is comprised of the following members: Jeff Hossfeld of The Whiting-Turner Construction Company as President; Thomas Koch of Plano-Coudon Construction as Vice President; Marianne Crampton of MK Consulting Engineers as Treasurer, John Gregg of GWWO Architects as Secretary, and Jonathan Goetz of Oak Contracting as At Large Member. Ted Bowes of Excell Concrete Construction continues to serve as Immediate Past President.
R. Nelson Oster of HMS Insurance Associates and Mark Rich of Baltimore Fabrication will complete their terms on the Board of Directors at the end of 2026.
Two BC&E members have been nominated to join the Board — Bill Hahner of DPR Construction and Pete Loftus of CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen LLP). To help you get to know them, we asked each nominee a few rapid-fire questions about professional best practices, favorite personal activities, nerdy obsessions and the superpowers they wish they had.
Bill Hahner
Preconstruction Executive
DPR Construction
~ The best piece of advice I have ever received is … “Listen to understand, not to respond.” It really helps to solve problems and discover what the real issues are.
~ My go-to way to recharge is … Getting outside and working on gardening/landscape projects. Being able to sweat while accomplishing something tangible is good for my soul.
~ My inner nerd gets really excited about … Understanding the cost metrics and components of different project types. I’m always looking into unit costs, productivity trends, escalation forecasts, and cost drivers across healthcare, life sciences, higher ed, commercial and advanced technology markets.
~ When it comes to sports, I am best known for … Playing O-line at Lehigh in college. I wasn’t the biggest or strongest but brought tenacity to the team and contributed to a league championship.
~ The last TV show I binge-watched was … Deadwood. It’s a Western set during the gold rush, but it’s also about seeing a community emerge from nothing. It reminds me of a construction project: bringing together different groups of people with sometimes competing interests to solve problems and bring order where it didn’t exist previously.
~ If I could join the cast of a reality TV show, I would join the cast of … “The Amazing Race.” It combines strategy, teamwork, problem-solving, and working under pressure. It combines all of the elements of a construction project but in amazing locations.
Pete Loftus
Principal, Professional Services
CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen LLP)
Chair, BC&E Finance Committee
~ My secret talent, favorite hobby or best party trick is … Coaching my kids’ sports. I’m not sure it’s a talent, but I enjoy it and I’ve learned a lot about patience along the way.
~ The best piece of advice I have ever received is … Don’t take yourself too seriously. Work hard, do the right thing, and enjoy the ride.
~ My go-to way to recharge is … Spending time with my family, preferably outside and away from my phone.
~ My inner nerd gets really excited about … Figuring out how things work and finding a better, more efficient way to do them.
~ When it comes to sports, I am best known for … Driving my kids to tournaments in Pennsylvania/Delaware/Virginia…usually to play a team one town over.
~ If I could acquire one super power, I would choose … The ability to slow down time. There never seems to be enough hours in the day.
Police barracks and forensics lab awarded for energy innovation
Packed with highly specialized forensics equipment, a computer crimes lab, evidence storage and weapons storage spaces, detention areas, investigative offices, training rooms, a vehicle maintenance garage and more, the new Maryland State Police Barrack V in Berlin was an understandable choice for an innovative project award.
Designed to house the Eastern Regional Forensic Laboratory and Computer Crimes Section, the 30,000 square foot facility required designers, engineers and builders to meet extraordinary requirements.
“There were a lot of specialized gas systems in the building and they were high-purity gas systems – Helium 5, Hydrogen 5, Nitrogen 3, Argon 5 – so they required special stainless steel piping and orbital welding,” said Scott Dixon, Project Manager at Gipe Associates which provided mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems design on the project.
Due to the sensitive nature of work in the forensics laboratory, “quick response Antec volume regulators were used in the supply air and exhaust air systems to respond to fume hood sash movements,” Dixon said. “Outside air was injected into the exhaust fans to maintain the required exit velocity.”
The facility required a 1250 kw diesel generator to provide full-building backup and a 100 kW/kVA central UPS for critical loads. The building design included three, high-efficiency boilers, variable flow heating water lines, a variable refrigerant flow system, a dedicated outside air unit and an energy recovery system. The garage included a vehicle exhaust system and numerous radiant gas heaters while the data center required precise environmental controls.
This summer, that extraordinary project earned the project team which included MK Consulting Engineers (civil engineering) and Manas Woodward Studios (architect), a most innovative project award. “But we got the award from the Delmarva Power Service Providers because of our energy savings,” Dixon said. “This building showed the most energy savings among all the buildings on the Delmarva power grid.”
Photos courtesy of Gipe Associates.
BC&E welcomes four new members
Based in Baltimore, ARC Construction Services, Inc. is a project management and construction labor company providing a range of services, including abatement, demolition, mold remediation, dry ice blasting and concrete floor prepping.
NFD Interior Architectural Planning + Design is an interior architectural planning and design firm for all commercial environments, including corporate, retail, restaurant, assisted living, healthcare, etc. NFD is a WBENC certified women-owned small business and MDOT certified DBE.
Nichols Contracting, Inc. (NCI) is a full-service general contractor headquartered in Columbia. Established in 1991, NCI has successfully delivered high-quality construction solutions for federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as private
sector clients.
SGK Contracting, Inc. is a roofing company, experienced in installing, maintaining and repairing shingles, metal roofs, flat roofs, thermoplastic (TPO) and specialized roof coatings. SGK also provides solar energy solutions and options for energy-efficient, sustainable roofs.
Acts of Faith
From contending with generational termite damage to recreating 200-year-old masonry to choreographing a flying steeple, construction projects at houses of worship can present some of the industry’s most unique challenges.
Those challenges are becoming increasingly common. Sales of surplus church properties (often in desirable city locations) have spurred adaptive reuse projects. Meanwhile, the growth of some congregations (often caused by young people returning to mainline faiths) is prompting churches to renovate existing buildings and expand their campuses.
Restoring 1700s construction
When Lewis Contractors began the St. Peter’s Catholic Church project in Queenstown, crews faced a significant scope of work. Craftsmen would complete a list of exterior improvements — repointing brick masonry, repairing the bell tower, refurbishing stained glass windows, and installing new copper gutters, downspouts and a slate roof. Inside, they would complete plaster repairs and a flooring restoration.
The work was meticulous. Craftsmen from Worcester Eisenbrandt analyzed samples of the original mortar to create an exact match for the repairs. Inside, painters discovered that layers of incompatible paint applied over the years had to be stripped to bare wood before the walls could be properly restored.
Closer inspection of the late 1700s building revealed a more dramatic need.
“You wouldn’t notice it as you were driving by on Route 50 at 60 miles an hour, but standing in the parking lot you could see that the bell tower was leaning,” said Jeff Childs, Project Manager with Lewis Contractors. “Its structural corners had suffered a lot of water damage and the cross bracing was no longer doing its job.”
Engineers determined that reinforcing the tower, as originally planned, would not be insufficient.
“It would have been dangerous, actually, to push this thing back into place and use new structural members to hold it,” Childs said.
Instead, the bell tower would have to be rebuilt, and the church’s steeple would have to be constructed on the ground before being lifted into place by a crane.
“There was no room for error,” Childs said. “We had tolerances of an eighth to a quarter of an inch to attach the steeple so the measurements had to be exact and the crane lift had to go right. It did. But a lot of people travelling down Route 50 got a great view of a flying steeple.”
Church-to-school conversion
In Baltimore City, Plano-Coudon Construction uncovered similarly dramatic structural challenges when they began the transformation of the 1887 Crisp Memorial Church into a new, 29,000-square-foot learning annex for Maree G. Farring Elementary School.
“As we stripped the church down to its structure, we uncovered an abundance of issues,” said Justin Vega, Project Manager with Plano-Coudon Construction. “The most substantial issue was generational termite damage that had worked its way into the heavy timber trusses. Termites had eaten away at significant cross sections of the structure to the point where three of the four bearing points required emergency implementation of scaffolding for life safety.”
A LiDAR scan provided a detailed model of the existing building and its issues. A multi-iteration redesign effort with input from subcontractors about constructability produced a new project design, but left crews pushing to meet the school’s critical need to have space completed when the school year began.
“We worked second shifts seven days a week for three to four months,” Vega said. “But we created this environment where kids are now learning and eating and playing basketball. It’s a beautiful, amazing building that is kind of the cornerstone of the community now.”
Maximizing value
Even projects on more contemporary church buildings come with their challenges.
In Marriottsville, Plano-Coudon is currently building a 27,000-square-foot addition to Chapelgate Presbyterian Church. The new space will include a 700-seat sanctuary, lobby, offices, meeting spaces, classrooms, and bride and groom suites. Crews will also renovate the existing church to upgrade systems and create a new nursery.
Constructing the addition while the church and its PreK-12 school remain fully operational has required careful planning and coordination to minimize disruptions to students, staff, parishioners and daily activities, said John Jozwiak, Project Manager.
Throughout the project, the Plano-Coudon team has worked closely with Chapelgate Presbyterian Church and the architect, Alexander Design Studio, to maximize the value of every construction dollar while preserving the church’s vision for the new addition.
“Through collaborative preconstruction and thoughtful value engineering, we identified opportunities to optimize the roof structure, exterior masonry system, and mechanical and electrical systems without compromising quality, functionality, or the overall vision for the project,” Jozwiak said.
Those value engineering needs are common on faith-based projects and require extra care among project teams, said Tyler Tate, President of Lewis Contractors.
And increasingly, contractors are being asked to exercise those skills. Lewis is currently working on several other faith-based projects — a choir and organ area renovation at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Owings Mills, a façade restoration at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Baltimore, and a major expansion of the parish hall and educational spaces at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Highland in Howard County.
“You know that every dollar you’re spending has been hard earned and thoughtfully given by the parish,” Tate said. “Even for a project that is on budget, there is still an obligation to be a good steward of that money and find savings opportunities where you can. As a contractor, you have to come to the table with patience and seriousness about that need.”
Featured in this article: Lewis Contractors, Plano-Coudon Construction, Worcester Eisenbrandt
Rethinking Employee Wellness
When Diversified Safety Services Field Operations Manager Jay Stephan got something in his eye while visiting a construction site in Frederick, he expected a stop at the onsite medical unit for an eye wash.
He didn’t expect to be offered an EKG.
“When they finished taking care of my eye, they said, ‘Hey, would you like to do a quick EKG?’” Stephan said.
The unexpected offer reflects a growing trend on large construction projects. Onsite medical providers are expanding beyond treating workplace injuries to offer routine health screenings, preventative care and other services that make healthcare more accessible for workers. Some construction companies are also adopting additional wellness programs and advocates insist a few commonsense practices help initiatives succeed.
#1 Bring healthcare to employees
Baltimore Fabrication started an onsite medical practice when it built its new fabrication facility in York. The company contracted Target Care to provide medical services onsite and fit out a medical office in the building where a nurse practitioner can complete physicals, administer vaccines, do blood tests and other routine procedures, and monitor work-related hazards, such as changes in eyesight or hearing.
“If you talk to somebody in the trades — whether it’s steel or plumbing or whatever — and ask when is the last time you saw a doctor, they’re going to stare right through you,” said Scott Foreman, Executive Vice President of Baltimore Fabrication. “Hourly wage workers on job sites or in shops just don’t have time and they may go 20 years without seeing a doctor.”
Within two months, roughly 50 percent of Baltimore Fabrication’s staff signed up for the free medical service.
After the York facility opened, Baltimore Fabrication also launched an effort to provide workers with healthier food options.
“Often in manufacturing, you’re located in food deserts,” Foreman said. “You’re in industrial areas where the only thing close by is fast food at a gas station.”
So, Baltimore Fabrication contracted with a vending machine company to supply sandwiches, wraps and salads.
“At first, we ran through the candy and junk food and sodas quick and the salads and wraps were left over,” he said.
But healthy habits can be contagious. As more workers sampled the healthier options, food choices shifted.
“Now, the first things that go are the salads and wraps and the healthier options,” he said.
#2 Make wellness messages manageable
A longtime proponent of wellness initiatives, DAVIS Construction recently expanded its efforts by launching a wellness hub that encourages participation through challenges, educational resources and incentives.
“For the hydration challenge, we gave Owalas as the incentive,” said Sherill Kirksey, Benefits Manager.
Other challenges focused on small, manageable changes. A “Taste the Rainbow” campaign encouraged employees to share photos of colorful fruits and vegetables, while a “Healthy Heart” challenge offered daily tips to make heart health less intimidating.
“That included take a 15-minute walk, snack on nuts or seeds or oatmeal, have fish or tofu for supper, make sure you’re hydrating, try to eat five different fruits or vegetables today, and start your day with gratitude,” said Jenny Welch, Benefits Specialist.
#3 Think beyond physical health
“Mental health is a big issue in this industry,” Stephan said. “Suicide rates among construction workers steadily amount to four times the national average. We need more mental health awareness, more education, especially among supervisors. They are the first point of contact for workers in distress, whether they realize that or not.”
One emerging trend is “mental health first aid” training, Stephan said. “I wish every company would invest the time to put their supervisors through this training.”
Courses can be completed in a day or less and conducted online.
“This doesn’t make you a therapist by any means,” he said. “But it will help you recognize when a worker is struggling with anxiety, depression, substance abuse or a personal crisis, and it will teach you how to talk to that person.”
At DAVIS Construction, Baltimore Fabrication and other companies, wellness initiatives have expanded to include financial wellness.
Baltimore Fabrication brought in financial advisors from Merrill Lynch for an hour and a half financial workshop.
“It wasn’t a talk about stocks and bonds because that’s not relevant to most people,” Foreman said. “It was about understanding your monthly expenses, how to create a budget and how to start saving. Afterwards, they offered one-on-one sessions and almost 40 people signed up.”
#4 Maximize your existing benefits
Health insurance policies, employee assistance programs, insurance broker services and initiatives by industry associations and nonprofits provide an array of wellness programs. Many people, however, aren’t fully aware of them.
“I have over 26 years of experience in benefits so I always make it my business with any service we are paying for that we access it, we use it and we promote it,” Kirksey said. “One of the great benefits is that Headspace is now free for our Cigna participants so they can receive additional mental health support. We also leverage our broker NFP [National Financial Partners/Aon] to provide us with a list of wellness events that they offer for free.”
Associated Builders and Contractors “has done a wonderful job at creating a well thought out initiative for body, heart, mind and soul,” Stephan said. “The website has a lot of valuable information that companies can incorporate into their own wellness programs.”
Featured in this article: Baltimore Fabrication, DAVIS Construction, Diversified Safety Services
From boardrooms to playgrounds
When Sam Muffoletto, Chief Estimator for Cole Roofing Company, applied to become a GIVE Fellow, he was excited about the prospect of an eight-month fellowship that would provide professional development, teach him about civic leadership and push him outside his comfort zone.
He just didn’t expect some of those lessons to happen on a playground.
Last month, Muffoletto gathered with other fellow participants at Mary Pat Clarke Playground on Lake Montebello for a community event that included musical entertainment, a story time, hula hooping with Baltimore Hoop Love, and science fun with the Science Guys of Baltimore.
It was an opportunity to see firsthand how nonprofit organizations strengthen communities and how professionals from the private sector can use their skills to support that work.
The eight-month fellowship, organized by Business Volunteers of Maryland and open to all industries and nonprofits, is designed to hone participants’ professional skills while also teaching them about Baltimore history, community challenges and the nonprofit sector.
Small teams of fellows are paired with local nonprofits and tasked with developing a GIVE Advisory Project (GAP) that could help those nonprofits further their missions.
At the playground, Muffoletto and his teammates learned more about how their designated nonprofit, the Baltimore Family Alliance, works to help families remain in the city and thrive.
“I have already learned a lot about the depth and complexity of Baltimore’s nonprofit ecosystem and the talented leaders that are doing important work,” he said. “But it takes a lot of capacity, sustainable funding and partners to do that work.”
At the end of the fellowship, each team will present their GAP in a Turtle Tank competition.
“There’s also a fundraising aspect to the project and all the money we raise will go to the nonprofits,” he said.
Muffoletto said he will also benefit from the experience. “It’s a great opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. I’m building leadership skills, networking skills, team-building and problem-solving skills. I’m connecting with professionals from different organizations across the city. And I get the opportunity to give back.”
Photos courtesy of Cole Roofing.
Chesapeake Welcome Center
Harford County Community College designed its expansive, new Chesapeake Welcome Center to do much more than process student inquiries about classes and campus life.
In addition to an information hub and administrative offices, the new 78,000-square-foot facility contains a 10,000-square-foot conference center, a 429-seat theater, a 2,000-square-foot art gallery, dining spaces and a commercial kitchen to serve the entire college.
Creating that space required the project team led by Oak Contracting to complete sweeping renovations to the existing 1968 center and add 46,000 square feet onto the building.
The plans included gutting the original, two-story theater, “cutting it in half horizontally and turning the top floor into a brand new commercial kitchen and the bottom floor into a new mechanical room,” said Matt Lurz, Assistant Project Manager at Oak. “We had to tie in new slabs to old slabs, which is challenging. We had to integrate a lot of new steel to support this ultra modern commercial kitchen. We had to meet its requirements for mechanical and life safety systems, plumbing, heavy power and the grease exhaust.”
Elsewhere onsite, crews were tackling very different requirements.
The new theater included state-of-the-art lighting and audio-visual systems, a catwalk, orchestra pit, and rich wood paneling. The two-story main lobby featured a large, curved reception desk, undulating countertop, feature lighting and a wood-sided, grand staircase.
The building’s exterior challenged crews to execute a complex design.
“We had a mix of three different types of metal panels — a smooth metal panel, a tapered panel, a ribbed panel,” Lurz said. “They were in varying profiles and various colors. All of that was combined with brick on the new building, brick on the old building and stone on the old building. In the front of the building where the conference center is, the tapered metal panels had to cover a radius-curved wall. They really upped the ante on the exterior design, but it paid off. The building looks phenomenal.”
Meticulous sequencing of trades, Lurz added, proved critical to efficiently completing the work in all areas of the center and to preventing any service disruption to two critical facilities onsite – the college’s main kitchen and its main telecom room.
Photos courtesy of Oak Contracting.
Featured in this article: Alliance Exterior Construction, Baltimore Fabrication, Burdette Koehler Murphy & Associates,EwingCole, Fallston Supply, Harford Community College, Leonard A. Kraus Co., Inc.,Live Green Landscape Associates, Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects, Oak Contracting, Site Resources, Inc.,Temp Air Co.
