Electric Boat’s North Stonington warehouse project reached a symbolic milestone Oct. 23 when a heavy crane lifted the final roof joist into place just six months after construction got underway on the massive, 480,000 square-foot facility.
Scores of trades workers, project managers and EB officials signed the steel joist with Sharpies before it was raised. The traditional topping-off ceremony signals the final, highest structural beam being placed in the building’s frame. Attached to the joist was an evergreen tree, symbolizing growth and good fortune.
“Six months for something this size is unheard of,” Devin Xenelis, EB’s director of real estate and project planning, told the crowd. The state-of-the-art warehouse will play a key role in alleviating congestion on the Groton waterfront as submarine production continues to ramp up.
Despite heavy rains that left the site waterlogged in July, the project is two weeks ahead of schedule, said Aaron O’Hala, superintendent at The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., the project’s construction manager. Other key partners in the project included Lampasona Concrete of Franklin, Mass., and Hartford-based Shepard Steel, which supplied the U.S.-fabricated joists.
“Once this place is up and running, it’s going to take a lot of pressure off Groton,” said Lucas Marland, EB’s senior manager of Logistics. “Material is going to move smoother, cleaner and faster, which is exactly what we need as production ramps up.”
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