Comments Off on Ripley Chapel renovations to begin mid-June
Ripley Chapel will be renovated during the summer months. On or about the second (maybe third) week of June, Seaver Construction will begin the process which is expected to take eight weeks. During late August and maybe very early September there will be a few additional tasks being taken that should have little to no impact on other users of the building.
Impact
A dumpster will be placed in the parking space next to the steps and ramp leading to the Ripley Entrance.
Generally there should be little impact on parking since the workers are being asked not to park in either the Vine Street or Dix Street parking lots.
On some occasions and for a limited time there may be deliveries or other activity that will affect the Vine Street lot. We will do our best to manage these and minimize any inconvenience. At no time will the Vine Street lot be closed. The Reno Garden will remain accessible.
Almost all of the construction work will be confined to the chapel space itself. There will be some impact on outdoor areas, especially the west wall toward the pond. Also the hallway by the elevator and the interior Chapel door will have some work done on it.
The Ripley Entrance will remain accessible except for a period of time when the current door is replaced with a new one – we will seek to do that during one week and avoid impact on Sunday worship and other uses of the building. Elevator access will not be blocked.
During the first two weeks of the project there will be some demolition work which can cause some noise. We want to inform you that the demo work will include asbestos abatement due to some minimal asbestos in the materials of the west wall (the wall facing Wedge Pond). Seaver will use a licensed abatement contractor and the church has hired Fuss & O’Neill of Quincy, MA, hazardous material consultants. Fuss & O’Neill conducted extensive testing to detect and verify the extent of the asbestos and developed the abatement plan that will be followed by Seaver. Fuss & O’Neill will monitor the project during the abatement in order to ensure us all that everything is done correctly and safely. If you would like to see any of the documents related to our testing results and/or the abatement plan, please let me know.
It is not expected users of the building will be disturbed during construction beyond what is noted above.
Questions about this project? Contact Bruce Alexander by email or at 617-605-6031.
—Bruce Alexander, Project Leader, Ripley Chapel Working Group