Roger Putnam Vocational Technical High School, Springfield MA

Architect: Drummey Rosane Anderson Inc.

General Contractor: Consigli Construction
Casework Contractor: Herrick & White

Installation: NorEaster installations

Casework: Wood-Metal Industries

Plastic Laminated Countertops: Rynone Mfg
Epoxy Resin Countertops: Durcon
Laboratory Fixtures: Watersaver Faucet Co.
Fume Hoods: Labconco

An exceedingly challenging 308,000 SF project! Everything was going really well until the plumbing subcontractor refused to install the fume hoods because the gas valves had copper supply lines (in Massachusetts gas lines are required to be black iron- copper is not allowed) Regrettably, the shop drawings which were submitted and approved had clearly indicated the copper guts and no one noticed, myself included. We hired an outside plumbing company to come in and pull all the copper and install black iron in it's place. The "irony" here (pun intended) is that the specifications did not even indicate that a pre-plumbed fume hood was required! We didn't have to put anything in there at all and could have delivered the gas valves to the jobsite in a cardboard box! Technically all we had to do was pull out the factory installed copper so that the plumber can install all of the black iron connections inside the fume hood, but they refused to do this because they didn't want any such responsibility. We took care of it in the interest of schedule and good faith.

Another issue was the line bored shelf pin holes in the casework. They were specified as KV pilasters and clips machined into the cabinet. Fortunately, the architect accepted the casework with line bored holes because Wood-Metal Industries provided a no-cost enhancement: 1" thick adjustable shelves throughout the project, regardess of shelf size. The finish of the casework was a custom stain that Wood-Metal had to match in their finish department and they nailed it. Casework was a composite set-up of stained rift white oak exteriors, clear birch interiors, and plastic laminated doors with 3mm pvc edging. I can't think of many wood casework companies that are capable of such a combination.

Woodland High School, Beacon Falls CT

Architect: Jeter Cook & Jepson

General Contractor: O&G Industries
Casework Contractor: Northeast Interior Systems

Architectural Woodwork: Woodworks (Bloomfield CT)

Installation: Northeast Interior Systems

Plastic Laminated Casework: Case Systems

Epoxy Resin Countertops: Laboratory Tops
Laboratory Fixtures: Watersaver Faucet Co.
Fume Hoods: Airmaster Systems Inc.

I immensely enjoyed managing this project for NEIS. Working with O&G Industries and JCJ Architects was a pleasure. The Woodland HS campus was nestled in the hills of western CT with amazing views from every classroom.