Edward Marks Building Renovation Plans Inch Forward
A joint meeting of the Falmouth Historical Commission and the Edward Marks Building Advisory Committee approved a 95 percent plan for renovations to the Edward Marks Building for the relocation of Falmouth Human Services.
Assistant Town Manager Peter Johnson-Staub addressed both committees, saying that he thinks the town has improved upon the plans since the last meeting. He was joined by town Facilities Manager Greg Endicott and project architect Robyn Parker of Intent Architects of Reading, who briefed the room with the minor changes that had been made from the previous ones.
Some minor changes, like the decision to not replicate the wainscoting detail on new walls, were made to preserve the historic value of the building. In this case, Ms. Parker said that that decision was made because replicated wainscoting would detract from the real historical value of the existing parts.
Ms. Parker said that they have also opted for a simpler restroom design with a single plumbing intervention with a single plumbing wall that will serve the first floor and any future bathrooms proposed for the second floor. There is currently no determined use for any other space in the building aside from the first floor, but Ms. Parker said they are addressing the possibility of future use in regard to the plumbing system by ensuring that additions are possible.
Because of the low ceiling height in the building, Ms. Parker continued, another decision was made to not use mounted ceiling light fixtures because they felt too modern for the building. Instead, she proposed recessed lighting, which would allow for a plainer ceiling.
The biggest change on this set of plans dealt with ventilation and came in the form of an add alternate, which means it is an additional item of work that the town is proposing as a possibility but has not officially been added to the plans yet. Add alternate items are usually priced out and negotiated during the bidding process to see if they can fall within the budget.
For ventilation, Ms. Parker said there are two avenues. Being an old home, the first avenue is to stick with the traditional opening and closing of windows to control ventilation in the home.
“Now most of you live here year-round and do understand that there’s probably a very small window [of time] where you actually want to open those windows,” Ms. Parker said. “It’s either too hot outside, too muggy or it’s too cold. By building code and by thinking of the people in this building, we needed to address the issue of natural ventilation.”
The other option, she explained, is to put an energy recovery ventilator, or ERV, in the building to bring in fresh air from the sides of the building up in the attic, which is where louvers, or slats for ventilation, are traditionally located on the gable sides of the building. Small ducts would then pump the air through the unit and down through the second floor to the first-floor ceiling.
“Part of the reason for proposing this is that we understand that in the future, the idea is to reside in this building, to do sort of a large renovation to the exterior,” Ms. Parker said. “I imagine at that time you would be considering insulating the building. Right now, the building naturally breathes for good, bad, or worse; it naturally breathes. When you begin to put on that new siding and potential for the insulation, you’re going to be asked to make that building airtight by building code regulations. The issue of natural ventilation will have to be addressed at that time, so that’s why we’ve included it as an alternate.”
Ms. Parker clarified that if the town does decide not to go forward with the ERV, it will not be installed. She also said that the louvers proposed would be metal, which the committees were not pleased with.
“That’s a pretty prominent area,” said commission vice chairman Christian Valle. “I think that’ll have to be thought about.”
Commission chairman Edward Haddad added that metal louvers may be an aesthetic problem when it comes to the exterior of the building.
“We wouldn’t want anything that isn’t accurate,” Mr. Haddad said.
Additionally, a couple of the Victorian radiators will be uninstalled, but given to the town to keep for preservation purposes. The remaining radiators will remain in place, and the building’s current boiler heating system will also remain in place.
Mr. Endicott said that there is no heat on the second floor because the radiators are disconnected. Thomas Renshaw, member of the Edward Marks Building Advisory Committee, advised that the piping from the second floor to the basement be left alone, allowing for the potential of a hydronic heating system down the line.
“We’re very concerned about budget,” Mr. Johnson-Staub said. “We will clarify this with our HVAC designers because if there’s anything at all being done on the second floor, it’s needed to be done in order to make the system more efficient. We have no interest in spending extra money to cut and remove any radiators from the second floor; our hope is to not touch the second floor. Unless there’s some mechanical reason to make the system function to do some work on the second floor, we’re not going to touch it. So, I hear you, and I don’t know if there is a mechanical reason to do it. If there is a mechanical reason to do that, we may need to do it. If there isn’t, I promise you, we won’t.”
Other things remain to be worked out, such as insulation in the building. Mr. Endicott said that in eight to 10 exploratory holes made on the exterior of the building, no insulation was found.; Mr. Renshaw said, however, that when using an infrared camera, they were able to locate portions of the building that were, in fact, insulated to some degree. More research and conversation will be necessary to determine what the best path forward is in terms of insulating the building, but Mr. Johnson-Staub assured members of both committees that it is one of their priorities.
Another issue that remains to be worked out are the wires coming into the building from both sides. Advisory committee member Jean-Pierre Riu wondered if the wires could be combined, so they are not coming into the building from both sides, but Mr. Johnson-Staub said he believed that it is beyond the scope of this current phase of the project.
“We could certainly look at those improvements as part of the exterior enhancement projects,” he said. “There’s no question that it would have a huge benefit to the look of the building… this project is budgeted at $740,000. It’s a lot just to renovate that first-floor interior, so we really have to hold the line on scope creep. It doesn’t mean we don’t care, it doesn’t mean we’re not interested, but it’s going to have to be a future fix.”
This phase of the project, both Mr. Johnson-Staub and Ms. Parker emphasized, will have very little impact on the exterior of the building.
“I just want to comment that these plans are really well done,” Mr. Valle said. “There’s a lot of detail, and, given the age of the building and all the ins and outs, it’s a great set of plans.”
Mr. Johnson-Staub said that the town hopes to have bids out in July and move the human services department into the building around January 2024.