Electrical Contractors

This project consisted of a total renovation of an existing building (Old Thomas Cadillac building) into a Performing Arts center for the University of Hartford.   The project duration was just over a year long including selective demolition of the existing facility.  New parking lots were included in the renovation of the facility.  The project was unique as it consisted of many separate Performance Studios each designed for a specific purpose.  Two larger Performance spaces are the focal point of the project, complete with Theatrical Lighting, Dimming and State of the Art Sound systems.  Support spaces including offices, Dressing rooms, backstage areas, Costumes, Set Design & Construction spaces round out the facility.  Some of the challenges encountered during construction included the constant need to maintain sound and light control in each of the Studios.  Special measures were utilized for all trades, especially Electrical and Special Systems installed by ECI.  Every junction box installed was wrapped with specified sound blankets to reduce the sound and light transfer into the spaces.  Sound and light anti rooms were constructed for each of the spaces.  Special Vibration isolators were installed to reduce unwanted sound transmission during performances.  The layout of the building was also challenging.  The project stretches out over entire city block with just one main electrical room.  Some of the feeders on the job were over 600' long.  Special provisions were made to compensate for this during the layout and construction phases.   Some of the floor slabs remained, so the routing of under slab conduits was less than ideal.  ECI also was contracted to complete the Tenant Spaces including Peoples Bank, Community Space and "The Backstage Café".   

ECI is one of the most recognized Merit Shop Electrical and Specialty Service Contractors because of their commitment to excellence, leadership and customer service. These are essential qualities to effectively manage the numerous multi-million dollar contracts they have successfully completed.  ECI is dedicated to providing professional assistance in comprehensive pre-construction planning, coordination and project management with consideration of critical time schedules and budgets. They are qualified and equipped to handle the challenges and complexities of any size job.

Blue Back Square is a first for Connecticut as a unique, mixed-use development and one of only a handful in the United States. A mixed use development is a symbiotic balance of residential, retail, office and civic space, designed for all aspects of life.  One of the challenges for this project was that portions of the project were funded by municipal money consequently this required portions of the project labor be done at a prevailing wage rate and other portions at a non prevailing wages rate. With this in mind ECI had to pay its employee's different labor rates depending where they worked on the site. This caused many issues with scheduling manpower is each area.  If employee's had to shift into a prevailing wage rate area or vise a versa they would be required to sign out of one job and into another. ECI foreman were required to schedule each area closely to minimize employee movement.  Value Engineering was another area where we believe we provided innovative ideas to the Construction Manager to choose ECI over other Electrical Contractors bidding for this project and they included:  Utilizing MC Cable in lieu of EMT for branch wiring, Utilizing rated MC Cable in lieu of EMT for fire alarm wiring, Utilize PVC elbows in lieu of specified rigid conduit elbows underground., Provide aluminum bussing in lieu of specified copper material in Switch boards and Panel boards, Provide aluminum feeder wiring for service conductors greater than 3/0, provide EMT with compression fittings and IMC for vertical drops in lieu of rigid conduit in parking garages and reduce site electrical feeder conduit sizes from 6" as specified to 5" for site electrical feeders.  The first major milestone for the project was the relocation of utility services the originated inside the project property and extended to the Town Police facility. This relocation would to allow for major excavations to begin. The Town's Police facility that is located only 20' from the sites property line had to be cut over to the new service conduits and conductors to permit the existing services in the close proximity of the project to be removed.  This work had to be done on a Sunday morning and had to be completed the same day. Critical time schedules had to be utilized to minimize the shut down period. Temporary generators were also used to provide power to the stations critical equipment during the shut down period. The existing area consisted of mixed use property including a former auto sales facility. Site remediation was a large part of the project and provided for the first scheduling set back to the project. Additional soil removals delayed the installation of foundations and other site utility installations requiring ECI to revisit each area of the project and provide revised scheduling plans.  ECI utilized all it's divisions to complete the project. The Construction department completed core and shell work on building's A, B and E as well as complete electrical  installations on the North and South garages, Site work included new infrastructure for utilities, electric duct banks for power, Telephone, CCTV and fiber optic systems throughout the eight building project.  Site lighting and service outlets at over 200 light pole locations was installed by ECI's Traffic division while ECI's Telecommunication's department installed back bone telephone trunk cables and terminations as well as security systems, distress stations, Fire alarm systems, and Parking control systems.  Fit out work completed by ECI's construction department included the Cheesecake factory, Hartford Hospital Education center, West Hartford ambulatory services, Women's Health @ Blue Back, Hartford Hospital wellness center, Health Trax and The New York sports club.   ECI also completed task work directly for the developer of the project to accelerate completion of the project.  ECI's Service department completed fit out work at several retail stores on the project including Munson's chocolate, Rizzuto's pizza, Laperla Jewelers and Sovereign bank.   The total cost for all of ECI's contracts on this project exceeded $7,565,000.00 and over 73,000 hours. Electrical Contractors, Incorporated (ECI) is a full service Connecticut-based contractor with an exceptional reputation for undertaking many unique and complex projects. Safety is always the number one priority on any ECI project. We worked hard in the year 2007 keeping are EMR at .89 and receiving the following awards: ABC STEP Platinum award, IEC-CAN Safety award, Award of Merit from the Hartford Insurance Company. All this being done while completing this project that worked over 73,000 man hours with no lost time injuries. The most telling reason this project was special is to look at the before and after photographs located in the first section of this entry. If a picture can tell a thousand words there's not a better one than this.

ECI is one of the most recognized Merit Shop Electrical and Specialty Service Contractors because of their commitment to excellence, leadership and customer service. These are essential qualities to effectively manage the numerous multi-million dollar contracts they have successfully completed.  ECI is dedicated to providing professional assistance in comprehensive pre-construction planning, coordination and project management with consideration of critical time schedules and budgets. They are qualified and equipped to handle the challenges and complexities of any size job.