January 1, 2003
Contact: Sarah Ray
802-443-5794
sray@middlebury.edu
Posted: January 1, 2003
MIDDLEBURY,
VT - Middlebury College officials announced that the College has
signed a contract for more than $509,000 with Island Pond Woodworkers,
whose employees will provide various custom designed items for Middlebury’s
new library, including book stack end panels, media stations, and study
carrels. The company, located in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, will deliver
the first items-the library carrels-beginning in July 2003. Construction
of the new library began in the spring of 2002 and will be complete in
the summer of 2004.
“The College’s contract
for millwork has been instrumental in supporting the resurrection of the
Island Pond operation,” said Don Maiolo, president of the company.
Island Pond Woodworkers was
founded by a local group of former Ethan Allen employees who wanted to
start their own operation in Island Pond, Vt., after the furniture maker
shut down its plant there in July 2001. The woodworkers are now located
in a new 15,000 square-foot facility in Island Pond.
Organized as an employee-owned
coop, Island Pond Woodworkers currently employs 12 people. Maiolo hopes
to employ 15 to 19 by the completion of the Middlebury project.
Middlebury College representatives
initiated contact with the founders of the new woodworking company earlier
this year in February when the business was still in its formative stages,
and the two groups met for further discussions in April. In July, Island
Pond Woodworkers participated in a competitive bid organized by Lee Kennedy
Company, the College’s construction manager for the library. Island Pond
Woodworkers provided the lowest qualified bid.
David Ginevan, Middlebury
College executive vice president of facilities planning, said, “Wherever
possible, we are committed to using local products and drawing on the
talents of the Vermont labor force.”
The College made these efforts
as a partner in the Cornerstone Project, an initiative coordinated by
the nonprofit Montpelier-based Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, that encourages
Vermont institutions to purchase environmentally sound Vermont goods and
services. Launched in 2000, the Cornerstone Project has focused on promoting
the use of sustainably harvested certified wood from Vermont forests.
Other partners in the project include the State of Vermont, University
of Vermont, St. Michael’s College, Vermont State Colleges, Fletcher Allen
and Sen. Patrick Leahy’s office.
To construct items for Middlebury’s
library, Island Pond Woodworkers will use approximately 55,000 board feet
of wood-sugar maple and beech-for the project. All of this wood will be
harvested in Vermont and at least 75-80 percent of it will be green certified.
To be certified, wood must meet standards that conform to sustainable
forest management practices. The remaining 20-25 percent will come from
managed Vermont woodlands as well. Bristol-based Vermont Family Forests
is working with Middlebury College and Island Pond Woodworkers to provide
sustainably harvested wood for the project.
“In many ways, Middlebury
College serves as the prime model for Cornerstone in its attempts to get
other institutions to follow suit with regard to the use of locally harvested
certified wood and environmentally sound building practices,” said
Dan Davis of the Cornerstone Project.
According to David Brynn,
director and founder of Vermont Family Forests, the majority of the wood
will come from Addison County, and the sugar maple specifically will be
harvested from College-owned woodlands at Middlebury’s Bread Loaf campus
in Ripton. All of the processing of the wood will take place in Vermont
as well-logs will be sent to a sawmill in Pittsford and boards will be
dried at a kiln in St. Johnsbury-to fully utilize local businesses in
the Vermont wood industry.
The new library is the fourth
Middlebury College building-joining Bicentennial Hall, LaForce Hall-Ross
Commons, and the Recycling Center-to employ Vermont green certified wood,
constituting hundreds of thousands of board feet for trim, flooring, ceilings,
wall panels and furniture.
“This continuing commitment
by the College to use local, certified wood represents an impressive effort
by an institution of higher education to create a path towards regional
economic and ecological sustainability,” said Leahy.