MIDDLETOWN >> City and state officials toured a half-dozen remediation, development and energy projects Wednesday. Robert Klee, commissioner for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, joined Mayor Daniel Drew, city planner Michiel Wackers and other city and state officials on a bus tour that began at city hall and wound through seven completed and ongoing projects. The group began at 645 Main Street, a former gas station for which the Department of Economic and Community Development recently awarded the city $350,000 for remediation.
The city had used an earlier DECD grant to remediate an underground gas plume and will apply the more recent cash injection to cope with polychlorinated biphenyl contamination.
Amy Vaillancourt, a project manager for Tighe & Bond, explained that there had been seven gas stations along Main Street, and the city has been “picking them off one by one” and redeveloping them, as it did with the current It’s Only Natural Market. From Main Street, the Middletown Area Transit bus took the gang to the Remington Rand building to survey the solar array on its roof via a Centerplan Corp. construction lift that took the mayor, commissioner and several reporters up 30 feet in the air. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Manchester construction company faces fines
HARTFORD — Federal workplace safety regulators say a Manchester-based construction company faces fines of more than $100,000 for a series of violations of workplace safety and health standards.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says Rockville Construction LLC, responsible for the Hockanum Mill renovations, faces fines for inadequate safeguards against lead exposure, respirator deficiencies, falls and electrical hazards. OSHA said company employees were exposed to high lead levels from scraping lead-containing paint; and failed to train employees about lead hazards. The company also had no written respiratory protection program, did not train its employees on the purpose, selection, fitting, use and limitations of respirators, and failed to conduct medical evaluations to determine fitness to wear respirators. Rockville Construction has 15 business days to comply with or contest the findings.
Farmington's KBE Building Corp. said it has won a $79 million contract from UConn to design and build a residence hall at its Storrs flagship campus containing a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) facility. The 210,000-square-foot building will house rooms for 727 students. It is the first project awarded under UConn's Next Gen building program.
Construction will begin in November and be complete in 2016.
The design team includes JSA Architects, structural engineer firm DiBlasi Associates, civil engineering firm BL Cos., and mechanical and plumbing-engineering firm WSP. Newman Architects and BVH Integrated Services will serve as the school's design consultant.
Bridgeport, Milford awarded $5.1M for microgrid projects
he state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has awarded $5.1 million to new microgrid projects in Bridgeport and Milford. The goal of the projects is to keep important buildings and facilities powered up, even when the electrical grid goes down, according to a release from the state. According to the press release from Gov. Dannel Malloy's office the two projects are: