Sugar River Mills Elderly & Workforce Housing
- Claremont, NH
- Renovation and System Upgrades
- 10 Buildings, 162 Units
- Completed September 2011
North Branch Construction was awarded the Construction Management contract for the renovation and system upgrades of the historical Sugar River Mills in Claremont, NH. The Sugar River Mills property served as a textile mill in the 1800’s. In 1982 the buildings were converted into housing and seven 6-unit townhouse complexes were built. The historic mill buildings consist of the Grist Mill, the Ton-Tine Building, and the M34 Building. The units within the townhouses and the three mill buildings total 139 elderly housing units and 23 family housing units – all affordable housing. North Branch was able to provide the client with a $100,000 value engineering credit through the re-design of the M34 Building’s roof system. Design services for the project were provided by Burnell-Johnson Architects of Manchester, NH.
Construction began in January of 2011, in accordance with the New Hampshire Housing Finance Agency, the Preservation of Affordable Housing, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. All units remained occupied throughout construction. Each unit had to be vacated individually for short periods of time to allow for renovations, a process that required detailed coordination by North Branch. Renovations to the historic M34 Building included the replacement of all 415 windows, a new roof, the replacement of skylights in two 6-story atria, thermal envelope and heating control upgrades, and the installation of new forced hot water heating and air distribution systems. The roof renovation of this building required North Branch to match its existing historic masonry parapet cap. All townhouses received new windows and energy-efficient lighting fixtures, upgraded thermal envelopes, as well as new attic insulation and painted cement siding installed on 1″ rigid insulation. During this process, North Branch found that some roofed areas were never insulated prior to this project. Four of the townhouse units received new standing seam roofing. The heating plant in the Grist Mill was completely replaced with new high-efficiency condensing boilers. Upgrades to the Ton-Tine Building included insulation of the mechanical pipework and replacement of the interior light fixtures. This project was completed in September of 2011 at a cost of approximately $140,000 below the Guaranteed Maximum Price.
