FAIRFIELD, Conn.—Officials at Sacred Heart University’s West Campus in Fairfield recently celebrated the groundbreaking for a new $70 million hockey and skating arena.

The 122,158-square-foot building will have “technologically enhanced” locker room amenities, fitness and training areas, as well as sports medicine and hydrotherapy suites. Additionally, as the facility will be geared toward training student athletes to be competitive for the NHL, the building will also have a rapid-shot puck room and facilities for videotaping practice. The arena itself is built to NHL specifications of 85 feet by 200 feet.

The hockey rink is a joint collaboration between JLG Architects, the SLAM Collaborative, Dimensional Innovations and Consigli Construction.

At the groundbreaking, SHU President John J. Petillo said that the new arena will be home to the university’s Division I men’s and women’s hockey teams as well as the school’s figure skating athletes.

“It is the continuation of a multi-year expansion program to support student growth, engagement and personal development,” Petillo said. “This facility will serve our student-athletes both on and off the ice.”

The president also thanked Frank and Marisa Martire, who donated $5 million to the construction cost, and in whose honor the building will be named. Frank Martire, a 1969 alum of Sacred Heart, currently serves as chair of Sacred Heart’s board of trustees, and also holds an interest in the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights franchise. Previously, the Martires also supported the Frank & Marisa Martire Center for the Liberal Arts and Chapel of the Holy Spirit, both parts of the Sacred Heart campus.

“They give of their time, their talent and their philanthropy, which is extremely valuable to us,” Petillo said of the couple.

The first games at the new arena are scheduled to be played in January 2023. In addition to sporting events, the Martire arena will play host to various learning laboratories for SHU students studying hospitality, sports communication and management, media and marketing. Guest lectures, concerts and other activities will take place there as well.

“This arena will be a Division I intercollegiate skating cornerstone and one of the best in the Northeast,” Jim Barquinero, senior vice president of enrollment & athletics, said in a statement. In fact, it was Barquinero who founded the school’s hockey and figure skating programs in the 1990s. “In addition to providing a sophisticated and beautiful home venue for our teams, it will serve our entire university community and residents throughout the region,” he said.

“This is a historic day, not only for the university, but for our hockey programs,” added C.J. Marottolo, head coach of the men’s ice hockey team. “This arena has NHL amenities with a collegial feel. Our teams and students will have a place to call home, and that really fills my heart.”

“I’m so thrilled about having a rink on campus,” Lisa Fedick, head coach of the figure skating club, said of the project. “The university has tremendous commitment to figure skating and all ice sports. We’re looking forward to taking our program to premier status.”

Sacred Heart is the second-largest Catholic university in New England.

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FRAMINGHAM, Mass.—Ground was broken recently on a new $98.3 million middle school in Framingham that will replace the existing Fuller Middle School.

The groundbreaking comes six months after voters in the city overwhelmingly approved a debt exclusion for the city’s part of the new school, which will replace the 61-year-old Fuller Middle School.

When built in 1958, the Fuller Middle School was originally the Framingham South High School. According to a statement from the Framingham, Mass., School District, when the North and South high schools combined to create Framingham High School in the 1990s, the building was repurposed into a middle school. The district determined that renovating the aging facility would be more costly than new construction and would provide no educational improvements.

The new school is expected to open in 2021-22. The existing school will remain open during construction. Consigli Construction is the general contractor on this impressive project, and Jonathan Levi Architects is the architect.

The new three-story building will include a learning commons/cafeteria at the core surrounded by collaboration balconies. In addition to classrooms, the school will have an 8,300-square-foot gymnasium, a 420-seat auditorium, and space dedicated to Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) instruction.

A model of sustainable design, the new school will incorporate innovative approaches to saving energy to provide a comfortable, safe environment. Classroom windows will be split into a lower and upper section; the lower section glass will provide natural light, views and fresh air, and the upper section will be positioned over “light shelves” that reflect daylight onto a white ceiling, which in turn shines deep into the room. The lighting is designed to dim or brighten depending on how sunny it is outside.

Last year, the Massachusetts School Building Authority agreed to reimburse $39.5 million to the city for the school construction, leaving the other $58.8 million for local taxpayers to pay.

It’s time that we moved to this 21st-century education,” said Fuller Principal Jose Duarte, in a statement.

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WASHINGTON D.C.—Consigli Construction Co., Inc. and Keystone Plus will kick off the construction of a new middle school this summer at Friendship Public Charter School in Ward 8, a community in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington D.C. The charter middle school will be new ground-up construction, span approximately 35,000 square feet, and stand three stories tall. Additional construction work at Friendship includes a new gym, a parking area and an elementary school playground that is anticipated to be completed in time for the 2020/2021 academic year.

For this project at Friendship, Consigli has joint-ventured with Keystone Plus Construction Corporation, which is headquartered in Ward 8 near the Friendship campus. Carlos Perdomo, chief executive officer and president of Keystone, has had a long-standing relationship with Consigli’s D.C. Director of Operations, Eric Tievy. Their relationship helped establish a strategic partnership between Consigli and Keystone in the D.C. market as a commitment to engage with the local community on both the subcontractor level as well as the local workforce level to build the school. Consigli and Keystone will also partner with Michael Marshall Design on the school’s design.

“This exciting, transformative project will address a significant community need to improve the learning conditions for young students in the Ward 8 community,” said Tievy. “The new Friendship Public Charter middle school will be the result of bridging community input with local execution, and we are looking forward to working with our D.C. partners to build facilities for students to learn and thrive for years to come.”

“As a local, small business enterprise based in Ward 8, we could not be more excited and are looking forward to working on this important academic project in our own neighborhood,” said Carlos Perdomo, chief executive officer and president of Keystone Plus. “We’ve been able to learn from Consigli over the years, and now with its added resources, our partnership is able to focus on projects that will have a direct impact on the community’s needs. Friendship Public Charter is an important initiative that we’re grateful to be a part of.”

Consigli will also have two alumni of Friendship Public Charter School working as interns on the project. One is Latrice Black, an alumna of Friendship and a recent winner of ACE Mentor Program of D.C.’s Women In Construction Alumni Scholarship, who joined Consigli in the summer of 2018. The other is Fabian Pineda, a 2019 graduate of Friendship who also joined Consigli through the ACE Mentor Program of D.C.

Consigli Construction Co., Inc. is a leading construction manager with offices in Washington, D.C., Boston and Milford, Massachusetts, Portland, Maine, Hartford, Connecticut and New York State serving clients throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. A fourth-generation family-led business, Consigli provides construction management services for corporate, academic, health care, institutional, life sciences, and government clients. Consigli is recognized by Engineering News-Record as one of the 100-largest in the country and has received numerous awards and recognition for its craftsmanship and employment practices. For more information, visit consigli.com.

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Consigli Construction was tasked with not only fulfilling this vision, but addressing many challenges such as repurposing and revitalizing an important mid-century structure and meeting the necessary demands of working on a very active building that would remain fully occupied and accessible throughout the entire project. After 36 months, the removal of 975 tons of demolition debris, and the reconstruction and renovation of six key building areas, Harvard now boasts 385,000 square feet of dedicated community space in the Smith Campus Center.

Hopkins Architects (Design Architect) & Bruner/Cott & Associates, Inc. (Executive Architect) led the design efforts of the ambitious undertaking.

Aiming to anchor Harvard’s Cambridge campus, President Drew Faust’s vision for common spaces and “One Harvard” required the major renovation and restoration of the Smith Campus Center, located in the heart of Harvard Square. The structure, originally built in two phases between 1961 and 1966 and designed by influential mid-century architect Josep Lluís Sert, is a 10-story H-shaped concrete building with two stories of below-grade parking, retail and 18 different Harvard administrative offices. All building occupants remained in-place during invasive interior and exterior construction.

The revamped facility serves as Harvard’s Welcome Center and features a compelling two-story glass enclosure at Forbes Plaza, creating an iconic “front door” to the building. Interior updates included significant renovations to the first floor Arcade and Mezzanine levels, which offers diverse University dining options, common spaces for clubs, social gatherings and student collaboration and technological capabilities for movie screenings and multimedia presentations. Sustainable elements include interior green wall landscaping and three roof gardens on the Holyoke Pavilion, Dunster Pavilion and the 10th floor, which also houses a restaurant and additional common spaces. Finally, Consigli renovated Harvard’s University Health Services (UHS) to expand and improve services to its student population. This project is targeting LEED Gold certification.

Key Details:

• Location: Cambridge, Ma
• Size/Type: 385,000 Sq. Ft. / Renovation & Restoration
• Cost: Confidential
• Delivery Method: CM at Risk
• Duration: 36 Months
• Architect: Hopkins Architects (Design Architect) & Bruner/Cott & Associates, Inc. (Executive Architect)

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Among those recognized include the Town of Newtown; Consigli Construction Co. Inc., of Milford, Mass.; architecture firm Svigals+Partners of New Haven, Conn.; and owner’s representative STV|DPM, with multiple national locations. The award recognizes projects that exemplify project team excellence and represent the best practices in teamwork by project owners, architects, engineers, constructors and trades. The team will formally accept the 2017 Project Teams Award at a presentation on June 13.

“The powerful purpose of this project was never lost on us from day one,” said Matthew Consigli, president of Consigli in a statement. “It was truly an honor to be a partner on this special project, and we couldn’t have asked for a better team.”

The state-of-the-art, 88,000-square-foot school serves PreK-4 students and opened its doors last fall. The project followed a 32-month timeline that included extensive public engagement, careful planning and design, and best-in-class construction management practices. The school’s design was inspired by a strong sense of community as well as by the inherent natural beauty of Newtown, according to a statement by Consigli Construction.

The final design includes a curving plan that reaches out across the site like arms in a welcoming gesture to students, according to statement from Consigli Construction, and features three separate classroom wings that extend like fingers of an open hand. A total of three courtyards and one outdoor amphitheater serve as an outdoor classroom and space for school events.

Other features of the project include two rubber-surfaced playgrounds, wood siding and colorful vertical sunshades in orange, red and yellow that bring bright stripes of color to the school’s exterior and address the east-west sun angles.

The school is designed for security, but security features do not dominate the campus. After passing through a series of checkpoints and a surveillance gate to access the main entrance, students, staff and visitors encounter several layers of parking and bus lanes that serve as subtle buffers. Impact-resistant windows simultaneously offer ample daylight as well as direct views to the school’s exterior, and all classrooms can be locked from within.

The replacement school, which came in under budget, was funded by a $50 million state grant and was also the first in the state to comply with Connecticut’s new School Safety Infrastructure Council guidelines.

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