Projects

DCAMM Maintenance Facility

Northborough, MA

Overview

The new Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) Surplus Properties Facility is the first of its kind when it comes to sustainable features. EDM started with an assessment of DCAMM’s current site in Lancaster, MA, which featured an array of century-old buildings that the client was eager to bring into the 21st century.

"We wanted to determine what they needed, and how we could use this property in the master plan,” Tim Widman, Architect at EDM, explained. “We then got involved in schematic design and started heading in the direction of building an entirely new facility that brought all of the current spaces together.”

The new facility recently broke ground and will be a 7,450 SF office/vehicle building and 4,000 SF storage building located in Northborough, MA. And while Massachusetts’ State Law requires buildings to be LEED Silver, advancing discussions took this sustainability initiative far beyond obligations.

“The more we dove into the details, the more the client wanted to make something as durable, low-maintenance, and efficient as it could possibly be. With the goal of creating a maintenance hub for the state, we started challenging how this building could function completely on its own, unaffected by what was happening in the community around it,” Tim said.

The sustainably driven decisions included using a wooden frame for both buildings, as it’s not only a naturally regenerating material, but also one that has inherent thermal qualities. In addition, the building won’t be powered by fossil fuels; it will be sustained by a photo-voltaic array and a ground-source, closed-loop geothermal heating and cooling system.

While the new building itself is fairly simple to the naked eye, the thrill of it is these unique and intricate layers of sustainability buried within the walls. With the intent of LEED Gold, LEED Net Zero certification, and Passive House certification, the DCAMM facility is truly thefirst of its kind for both the community and the EDM team — but most certainly, not the last.