MONROE, CT – The foundation is finished and the walls and structural steel is up for the addition to the Monroe Volunteer Emergency Medical Service’s headquarters, inside the firehouse at 54 Jockey Hollow Road.
Town Councilman Terry Rooney, who also serves as chairman of the EMS Building Committee, said the $4.5 million renovation and addition project has been going smoothly, though more needs to be done.
“We’re hopeful the EMS will have a fully renovated building by the winter,” he said Wednesday.
The timetable for construction will depend upon the weather, according to Rooney.
Once the building is buttoned up, he said interior work can continue. Rooney said site work has been ongoing.
“We ran into ledge on the right side of the building,” he said. “The building committee is working on a rock removal plan with a local contracted excavator.”
Rooney praised Burlington Construction Company for doing a good job of keeping costs down and organizing the site in a way that allows EMS personnel to use the facility 24/7.
The town is using a construction manager at risk methodology, putting every aspect of the project out to bid and hiring each subcontractor.
While working with Burlington Construction Company and Jacunski Humes Architects, the building committee also went through a value engineering process, in which money is saved by finding comparable materials that are less expensive.
The Monroe Volunteer Emergency Medical Service worked out of the electric room of the police station on Fan Hill Road before moving to Jockey Hollow Firehouse in 2001. Over time, it outgrew the facility.
Town officials believe an upgraded facility will meet the organization’s needs for years to come.
