Easterseals NH’s new Gammon Academy facility in Manchester. (Photo by North Branch Construction)
When Easterseals NH looked to build a 27,000-square-foot facility to serve its students, it turned to North Branch Construction to ensure that the building fulfilled its vision and met its needs.
By involving faculty and key stakeholders early in the process, North Branch constructed the new Gammon Academy building in Manchester while balancing functionality, safety and budget. The company has long been chosen for its experience building nonprofit and educational facilities.
“Having end-user involvement in the early discussions helped shape the design and construction to ensure that we were building a space that would fit the various needs for the faculty and students,” said Joseph Campbell, president of North Branch Construction. “So that was really a key point to the success of the project: having the stakeholders involved early on in the process.”
Easterseals NH provides high-quality and treatment-oriented educational services to students who may have neurodevelopmental, medical or psychiatric disorders. The new building has 14 classroom spaces, including multipurpose rooms that could be used for parent visits or therapy sessions, learning spaces, vocational programming and a special sensory room.
Campbell said that North Branch was proud of the quality of the facility that students and faculty will get to use.
“Just seeing the spaces they were coming from, they were in desperate need of this,” he said. “One of the things that really moved me was the emotions of the faculty and the staff that we witnessed when turning over the new space. It reminded us that all our hard work would make a difference for countless youth for many years to come. The faculty were drying tears from their eyes. That was kind of special.”
Easterseals NH’s Gammon Academy serves students with neurodevelopmental, medical or psychiatric disorders, and features 14 classrooms like this one. (Courtesy North Branch Construction)
About 30% of North Branch’s projects are for nonprofits or academic buildings. Due to the unique behavioral needs of the students at Gammon Academy, the building had some features North Branch had not used before.
“A number of the students have autism, and the building was equipped with what we called the sensory room,” Campbell said. “A student can go there to cool down or reset themselves. It had dimmable lighting, a climbing wall, some suspension equipment, a relaxation table, a little zip line and some tumble pads. So it’s a pretty cool room. It’s not every day you get to build a climbing wall.”
To ensure the walls could withstand the wear and tear of an active learning environment, the crew tested different materials by simulating real-world conditions. Plywood coated with a specialized plaster ultimately proved affordable and durable.
“We literally threw baseballs at the wall; we kicked the walls with our steel-toed boots; we struck the walls with hammers and whatnot,” Campbell said.
North Branch also installed tempered glass windows to prevent student injuries in case of breakage.
Similarly, the delayed egress system — designed to prevent students from leaving unsupervised — was carefully engineered to balance security with emergency safety protocols. The building has door monitoring and a card access system.
The academic building shares a campus with a residential treatment program. So, North Branch had to take special care to maintain the safety of students living just 40 feet away.
North Branch assigned all workers a helmet sticker badge number and required that each worker sign in and out of the job site.
Easterseals NH’s new facility includes a sensory room for students with autism who may seek a place to relax during the day. (Photo by North Branch Construction)
The work site was completely fenced in with two motorized vehicle electric gates. Each worker for the site was given a button to open the gate, and two seconds later it would close.
“We had to have something that would close very quickly to ensure that the students remain out of the job site,” Campbell said.
Part of the funding for the project came from the NH governor’s office for Emergency Relief and Recovery (GOFERR), money dedicated to education recovery following COVID. That funding required the project, which broke ground in September 2023, to be complete by September 2024.
Denron Hall Plumbing and Heating and Longchamps Electric were among the subcontractors on the project. Campbell said they worked hard to procure materials early to ensure they arrived when the project needed them. JSA Design served as the project’s architect and TFMoran developed the civil and structural engineering.
“Prior to construction, during our material procurement review, long-lead-time items such as the building’s electrical panels and gear, specialty storefront systems and mechanical units were identified as problematic with the project schedule,” Campbell said. “We were able to provide the governor’s office with backup data, and we were granted an extension to the funding completion dates.”
North Branch was granted an extension until Dec. 31, 2024. It reached substantial completion on Dec. 6, in advance of that deadline.
“I truly believe that one of the reasons the project was such a success was by including the stakeholders and users of the facility into the pre-construction meetings and throughout the construction as well,” Campbell said. “It ensured that we were designing and building a facility that met their needs, and there was always a balance between needs, wants and limited project funds.
It was a real challenge, but as a team, we were able to overcome it.”
