Vermont Law School
Center for Legal Studies

In June of this year, Trumbull-Nelson began work on a 14,750 square foot construction project for Vermont Law School, in South Royalton, VT. The work includes renovation of 7,000 square feet of space in a building located at 190 Chelsea Street, which had previously housed a bakery. The renovation is focused upon increasing energy efficiency.

David Stanley,an employee of Trumbull-Nelson for over 26 years is Project Superintendent for the Vermont Law School Project.

Regarding the focus on efficiency, Stanley described a few of the measures being taken to reduce overall energy consumption.

“The existing openings in the structure, primarily for windows, will remain, but the replacement windows will be state-of-the-art energy-efficient triple-paned glass,” he says. Studs in the existing building wall will remain, but a double-exterior wall will be added, leaving a space between the two layers for foam thermal insulation. “We are going for walls that are in the respectable r-40 to R-50 range, and in the roof we are hoping to achieve thermal insulation in the R-65 to R-75 range,” Stanley adds.

The Vermont Law School bookstore will occupy new space on the ground floor of the building, with additional space upstairs available for classrooms and offices. Custom and intricate wood millwork from Trumbull-Nelson's own Millwork Shop will highlight the interior of the building. Stanley indicates that the air heating and circulation system is of the variable refrigerant flow type, with condensing boilers for backup heat.

“The domestic heat water supply available throughout the building will be of the instantaneous hot type, and there will be energy recovery units in the air exchanger system so that in winter, air that has already been heated will transfer some of its heat through the warming of the incoming air,” he concludes.