When Martini Northern broke ground for the new Granite State Credit Union facility in Nashua in October 2020, they were in a race against time, the pandemic and the encroaching winter. The Martini Northern team worked closely with Granite State Credit Union and The Element Group design team to expedite the demolition of the existing building and get the foundation and a majority of the underground infrastructure completed before winter hit, which laid the ground work for them to deliver a certificate of occupancy by September 2021. A notable achievement in fewer than 12 months — and one Martini Northern Vice President Matt Billings says is a testament to the strong and cohesive partnership between Granite State Credit Union, The Element Group and the Martini Northern team to deliver a building of such high quality at a competitive cost during such uncertain times.

“To complete this project in under a year, keep all staff, team members and subcontractors safe throughout the pandemic without major delays is a reflection of our dedication to both our clients and subcontractors,” Billings says, “and Granite State as well.”

Another crucial partner was the civil engineer Hayner/Swanson, which worked closely with The Element Group to add a retaining wall and a descending road along the side of the site to maintain its geographic integrity, despite having to remove the existing building.

The new 10,000-square-foot, two-story steel frame building has a unique combination of a rustic brick and glass facade. Billings says, “The large steel frame allowed for an open concept floor plan to meet the vision of the Element design team to utilize natural light throughout the common areas and promote the interaction of clients and staff.”

“The first- and second-floor office areas have custom blue glass storefronts on all exterior walls, allowing for natural light to flood the open concept areas. The Arctic Blue glass also covers the main façade of the building, facing customer parking, and was chosen based on research that showed it promotes a warm inviting feeling and elevates moods.

All of this reflects a philosophical meeting of the minds and collaboration between architect, contractor and customer. “We’re a client-driven company, and so is Granite State Credit Union and Element, and this project is a direct reflection of our dedication to having a positive impact on our clients,” Billings says.

The result? “Meticulous attention to the aesthetic and quality of construction.”

From the integrity of the site to the calming blue glass and the interior signage (“promoting collaboration and positivity”), everything about the project was aimed at being “encouraging both to the customers and the employees.”

Further, Granite State Credit Union invested in technology such as interactive teller machines (ITMs) instead of automatic teller machines (ATMs). These provide a drive-up live teller access during and after business hours.

“Granite State’s ITMs and state-of-theart technology allows customers a lot of flexibility for how they conduct banking transactions,” Billings notes, adding that it increased the challenges for Martini, including additional electrical and tele-data infrastructure that had to be closely coordinated and executed.

This in a time when supply chains were deeply challenged.

SUPPLY CHAINS AND COVID

With the pandemic disrupting supply chains and creating long lead times, “we really had to expedite and order long-leadtime items as quickly as possible, and Granite State Credit Union and The Element Group helped make it possible,” Billings said. In some cases, this meant ordering materials even before the deal was done.

The building’s elevator was a prime example. “We released the elevator and gave various other subcontractors a notice to proceed even before we finalized the contract. This was a great representation of the project team’s trust between each other and urgency to be proactive.”

There were other cases where diligent preconstruction planning identified long-leadtime materials, and the project team found ways to expedite shipping and materials. Martini Northern’s early strategic work and close relationship with the client and architect allowed for this to all happen quickly and efficiently.

Throughout the process, Billings says, the project team from Granite State Credit Union, led by Senior Vice President Michele Plaza and Facilities Manager Moe LaPlume, were dedicated and fully engaged more than he sometimes sees, and that dedication and engagement became a critical aspect of making the quick decisions required to keep construction moving forward swiftly during a global pandemic.

Even though they were moving quickly, Billings says, safety during the pandemic was always a top concern, and the team managed to complete the project without a single issue.

“We followed the CDC guidelines, implemented daily Covid protocols and preventative measures, especially when the building was enclosed. Everybody was wearing masks. We had a safety manager work with our site supervisor Rene Bourgeois to implement safety measures for everyone onsite,” Billings recalls. “Our site supervisor tried to spread out subcontractors as much as he could — which was a real challenge — but it really paid off. Ultimately, we kept everybody healthy and proactively executed the project efficiently.”

UNIQUE ADVANTAGES

Billings says Martini Northern’s tight-knit team and deep connections to the construction community help create some unique advantages when tackling projects with tight time frames like the new Granite State Credit Union facility.

In this case, the connections ran deeper, because the various subcontractors that Martini Northern used were also customers who belong to the Granite State Credit Union. Those partnerships have continued on to future projects and became new relationships, Billings says.

“We’re not a large company, and we don’t intent to be. We focus on quality more than quantity,” he says. “We focus on local projects, work with local subcontractors and our relationships mean the most to us. Like Granite State Credit Union and The Element Group, we develop trust, transparency and close relationships with both our clients and subcontractors, which is the keystone to providing our clients with a great finished product at a competitive cost. We are grateful to work with a dedicated owner like Granite State Credit Union and The Element Group on such a great project.”