Matt Wirth, PROCON Sr. VP architecture; Chris Powers, PROCON project manager; John Closson, Unitil VP of people,
shared services & organizational effectiveness; Tom Meissner, Unitil president and CEO; Jacquie Agel,
Unitil manager fleet and facilities; Dan Messier, PROCON Sr. VP operations; Mike Lawrence, PROCON Sr. project manager;
Dale Chase, PROCON Sr. superintendent; Connor Spotts, PROCON field engineer;
Jimmy Lehoux, PROCON subcontractor ambassador; and Paul Roy, PROCON director business development
Exeter, NH Unitil, a local provider of natural gas and electricity, was joined by state and local officials, business leaders, and employees for the groundbreaking ceremony of its planned 54,000 s/f regional facility. The facility will be located on the soon-to-be-renamed Energy Way off Exit 9 on Rte. 101, a location selected specifically to help facilitate swift response to outages throughout Unitil’s seacoast service region.
The facility will be home to Unitil’s seacoast electric distribution operations, as well as its forestry, engineering, and centralized electric dispatch teams. During major weather events, the facility will also serve as the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for the region and will support preparation, damage assessment, public safety, and restoration efforts as the hub of local operations.
“Our new facility here in Exeter will be central to our ongoing mission to safely and reliably provide electric service to our customers here in the New Hampshire coastal region,” said Unitil CEO Tom Meissner. “The Town of Exeter has been a great partner of ours for many years, and we are thrilled to be calling it home for our electric operations.”
Unitil selected Manchester-based PROCON as the designer and construction manager for the project. Plans call for a two-story office building with a warehouse, garage space for bucket trucks and other operations vehicles, a vehicle wash bay, and workshop/lab spaces for other departments. Plans also include a designated testing and training room, as well as a newly constructed outdoor pole training area, both of which are designed to help employees stay on top of the latest in safety techniques and operational best practices.
PROCON director of development, Paul Roy said, “Our PROCON design team worked together to include all of Unitil’s needs, and remain cost-effective. So, I know that the Unitil employees will be very happy with the finished project. I also want to thank the Town of Exeter, which has been outstanding to work with again – a true working relationship.”
The building is expected to open for business in summer 2020.