Arundel Town Hall
Client Testimonial
“Ouellet is a very professional company. We have found both Mike and Luke Ouellet to be attentive to our needs, offering solutions with the hope of providing savings to the community.”
Keith Trefethen, Arundel Town Manager, Town of Arundel
With a residential, hometown feel, the Arundel Town Hall is still a commercial building that needed longevity and durability. Ouellet and Port City Architecture focused on construction that would last for generations while incorporating energy-efficient features in a practical way.
Using spray foam insulation in the ceilings, double-wall exterior framing alongside an efficient HVAC system, Arundel Town Hall is built to stand up to the Maine elements while saving the city money in utilities and maintenance. To further improve energy efficiency, Ouellet worked with Talmage Solar Engineering to install solar trackers directly adjacent to the building. These trackers are capable of producing up to 100 kilowatts of energy; enough to power the town hall and cover some of the utility costs of other town buildings.
In this area in Maine, the soil is largely clay, which takes special care when laying the foundation for buildings, especially those built to last. For this project, Ouellet utilized geofoam blocks in place of gravel or stone backfill. These blocks are optimized for bearing weight with targeted weight distribution without the settling issues (and possible future issues) of the other options.
Ouellet also worked closely with the Arundel Conservation Trust who constructed a new flow trail near the town hall.
Overall, this build gave Ouellet an opportunity to finetune some energy efficiency strategies with outstanding results. We look forward to using these techniques in future projects.