Vergennes Community Apartments Nearing Completion; Landscaping Taking Root!

Vermont Integrated Architecture, who designed the building, recently featured the results of the very promising blower door test on the building.  The following is re-posted from their newsletter, WAYWORD:

"In January, the Vergennes Community Housing project underwent its construction-phase blower door test. BVH Integrated Services, commissioning consultant for the project, conducted the test and found that the 23,470 sf building, which includes 24 housing units, had a leakage rate of .017 CFM at 50 pascals per sf (5-sided surface area). This rate is within the range of “ultra-tight air barriers” or Passive House standard. According to BVH, this building is on track to be one of the tightest commercial buildings in New England.
 
VIA has had very good air leakage results over the years with single-family residential projects, with a variety of builders. But this result is truly exciting for a building of this size. Jean Terwilliger, project architect, credits Neagley & Chase’s crew for their excellent oversight of air sealing throughout construction. “We can always design this level of air barrier into a project,” says Jean, “but it’s up to the contractors to pay close attention to it every step of the way.” Neagley & Chase took special care to adequately seal further penetrations as construction progressed.

The apartments are almost finished, with punch-list work ongoing and landscaping starting in the coming weeks. Slated for completion in early September, the building is leasing now and will be ready for occupancy October 1st."