Press Release: Freeport Community Services Moving Forward with 57 Depot Street Deep Energy Retrofit.

Today, in conjunction with Freeport Community Services, we issued a press release (PDF) indicating that we are moving forward with the Deep Energy Retrofit of the historic Mallett House located at 57 Depot Street in downtown Freeport, Maine. 

We're ecstatic to see this project getting off the ground; and further, that after a competitive bidding process, our good friends and office-mates at Warren Construction Group were awarded the contract. The project is expected to be completed in approximately seven months. 

From the press release: 

The project is particularly noteworthy in that, in addition to a full renovation of the currently dilapidated structure, it will be undergoing a “deep energy retrofit,” a renovation aimed at achieving 50% or more energy savings compared to a similar structure built to code. This reduction will be achieved primarily through improvements to the building envelope including exterior insulation, air sealing and high efficiency heating and cooling systems. Concerns from the historic preservation community resulted in an especially careful plan for the restoration that will entail exacting replication of historic exterior details, retention of reusable old materials, and minimal impact to historic plaster and molding on the building’s interior. The project is believed to be one of the first deep energy retrofits of a historically eligible building in the country.

As had been the plan from the outset, the full project will be open-sourced, with energy and construction details available here on the Energy Circle website, so be sure to check back for updates. It's been quite a journey as we've traversed the historic preservation processes to get to this point. In the interests of getting approvals, we've been much more quiet than is our instinct and wish, but you can count on that changing now. You can also keep tabs on the project on Facebook or Twitter.