Christ Church, Bronxville, NY

Christ Church of Bronxville New York engaged Chandler in 2008 to assist in developing program for significant renovations to their 1901 Landmarked church. An important component was the purchase and pending installation of a new pipe organ requiring heating, cooling and humidity control in the solid masonry sanctuary. The thermal and weather integrity of the entire complex of buildings had been compromised gradually over the years with deferred maintenance or interim fixes. The existing steam heating had many problems.
 

Excellence in Historic Preservation Award
A renovation project for the landmarked church managed by Chandler of Greenwich, CT received an Excellence in Historic Preservation Award by The League of Preservation of New York State on May 16, 2012 at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan. The church, designed by Bertram G. Goodhue, was completed in 1926.

The award states: “a global view of environmental stewardship, storm water management, reducing energy use, reinstating the natural climate control features - the project team has set a fine example for other practitioners”.

The project is a positive example of how the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) approach with constructive collaboration between design and construction can achieve excellent results particularly for building retrofits.

AT A GLANCE:
Project Type -   Institutional
Location -   Bronxville, NY

Project Management

Renovation of Christ Church focused in repairing and modernizing systems. Chandler assigned a project manager with environmental and mechanical engineering degrees with field experience:

• Installation of a new pipe organ, requiring careful control of heat and humidity parameter
• Detailed assessment and diagnosis of existing conditions
• Repair and improvement of existing heating and cooling systems.
• Both passive and mechanical cooling was employed
• The systems also had to condition the remaining church areas and related and connected building and offices.
• Extensive demolition, asbestos removal and architectural reconstruction were required
• Construction tasks required dust suppression coordinated with church functions
• Complete restoration of weather and thermal integrity.
• Exterior repair of slate and copper roof while maintaining precision and attention to old-world craftsmanship.
• Use of imported lime grout slurry to regain integrity of the exterior stone walls by filling voids
• The project was tasked and scoped for all items of work and updated weekly in the process of constant discovery.
• The result was a complete master working project management package that included schedules, estimates and budgets with cost reduction options

Neighbor to Neighbor, Greenwich, CT

“Green” Project in Progress
Neighbor to Neighbor is a non profit food and clothing bank serving the economically disadvantaged of Greenwich, Connecticut and neighboring towns. It has operated out of basement facilities at Christ Church Greenwich for the past 40 years. They are inadequate and a modest new building has been designed and approved by the town planning board to be built on an adjacent church property. Chandler was hired shortly after schematic design to manage the completion of the project towards the goal of being “Green” and energy efficient for minimum operation cost. 

The first step was to determine if the design was suitable for a prefabricated modular building solution that might offer less cost, better quality with factory assembly and much less construction disruption on a sensitive site. That was successfully achieved. The next step was to ascertain the potential of solar energy. With bidding that was established and an application for Renewable Energy Credits was approved by the local utility. Energy modeling has begun and the project has qualified with a local utility incentive program for a size exemption for its goal of being at or as close to Net Zero Energy (NZE) as possible. As such this non profit will be the first non residential type building in Connecticut to qualify under this program. The final steps will be the integration of energy efficient measures including possibly a heat pump driven radiant heating and cooling system into the modular design and construction program. Construction is estimated to start in the spring of 2018 for completion by early fall.

New England Farm

In Northwest Connecticut a couple bought a tired 220 acre former New England farm. Their intent was to rejuvenate the farm with permaculture based organic farming and to design and build an energy efficient home for weekend and eventual use as a permanent residence. Environmental care was the platform for planning, design and construction coupled with the use of renewable energy sources. Chandler was hired to assemble a consultant team. With the owners Chandler facilitated a values driven collaboration with an integrated design team process and managed and coordinated development in design and construction.

The well insulated house incorporated forms reflecting the rolling hills surrounding the project site as well as using locally sourced and recycled materials. Landscaping also was in concert with and enhanced the local environment coupled with the restoration of a farm pond. The house was heated and cooled with a ground sourced heat pump system (GSHP) using power from a 41 KW ground mounted solar array. Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECS) were secured contributing to a projected lifecycle return on investment of 16% together with Net Metering of power fed back to the grid. The pool, spa and adjacent greenhouse were heated with a solar hot water and storage system offsetting the need and cost for fossil fuel.