CopelandBEC Presents at Capital District Engineer’s Week

Last week I had the privilege of presenting at the 43rd annual Capital District Engineer’s Week. I talked about building science first principles that anyone can use to help solve their own building envelope problems, and shared a bunch of freely-available resources.

National Engineers Week was created in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers and coincided with President’s Day. This is no coincidence, since George Washington, the 1st President of the United States was a land surveyor and engineer.

Much of what I discussed is shared right here on our site at copelandbec.com/self-help.

Better Buildings Newsletter

In case you missed it, I’ve started writing a weekly newsletter about how to make buildings work better. This week’s edition shares some of the free resources from our Building Envelope Self-Help page, and I’ve been sharing a lot of original content as well. Recent topics have included:

  • how designers can take more responsibility for communicating design intent
  • the impact that standard of care has on innovation

Check it out over on LinkedIn!

Brookline Condo Masonry Restoration at 15-17 James Street

Last year CopelandBEC wrapped up a multi-year masonry facade restoration project at 15-17 James Street in Brookline, MA. Statewide RM, the contractor on the project, recently posted a great write-up on their website and it’s so good we wanted to share it!

It was a challenging project for many reasons. From Statewide’s article:

The portico at 15-17 James Street, Brookline, had become a safety concern. Replacing it with a similar portico would have been expensive and difficult to accomplish, but it was too worn down to be repaired. Work was completed in tight quarters, primarily during the cold winter months.

-Statewide RM

Check out the full Statewide RM feature here.

First Edition of Building Envelope Self-Help Published

Today we published the inaugural edition of Building Envelope Self-Help, a page on our website intended to help provide some basic building envelope first principles and free resources.

There are a few key principles that can guide you to the answer to almost any building envelope question. Think of these principles as a roadmap—an algorithm—that will always guide you to the right destination.

Check it out at copelandbec.com/self-help

Read more

WuXi Wall Cladding Continues

Despite the winter weather work continues at our WuXi Biologics project in Worcester, MA. Steel topped off in September and the construction team, led by The Cardinal Group, is now working on cladding and roofing (as weather permits).

WuXi Biologics facility under construction at the Reactory development in Worcester, MA
A new year, same grey New England winter.

CopelandBEC has been providing building envelope design consulting during the design assist process over the past year, and is currently providing construction phase quality assurance services including regular site visits to observe the ongoing work.

Read more