FCG Named on the Best Supermarket Contractors in the US LIST by GC MAGAZINE

FCG Named on the Best Supermarket Contractors in the US LIST by GC MAGAZINE

It’s absolutely essential to have good knowledge of how a supermarket operates before you begin to build. These stores are usually designed with certain layouts in mind, providing space for different types of visual details, product placements, aisle designs, and accessibility that guides consumers through a certain experience.

Built-In Lifetime Savings with Butler Buildings

Built-In Lifetime Savings with Butler Buildings

The decisions you make during the building design phase will have a major impact on your operating costs each year. Focusing on options that offer energy efficiency and long life spans will help you minimize your total cost of ownership. Butler building assemblies are tested and proven to be more energy-efficient than industry standards, and Butler buildings are engineered and built to last.

Join Our Team

Join Our Team

Are you a construction project manager looking to learn and grow with a reputable, stable, family-owned commercial construction management firm? Are you a dedicated, hardworking, resourceful individual with a “whatever it takes” attitude and excellent follow-through skills? Would you like to be a valued member of a loyal, passionate, and fun team of highly experienced managers? 

Recently Completed: Legrand, West Hartford CT

Recently Completed: Legrand, West Hartford CT

Legrand North America, the Wiremold Company, has fresh new digs in West Hartford, Connecticut.  This recently renovated industrial office space includes open work stations, various conference and collaboration spaces, and creative design space.  The office serves as a showroom, featuring many of Legrand's own light and data products.  We're proud to partner with this global organization who has worked for more than 25 years to transform spaces where people live and work.

High Praise from the West Hartford United Methodist Church

You know we were incredibly satisfied with your team’s work in 2009 when we gutted the main part of our building and performed a total transformation of it. This included installing an elevator, new HVAC, new electrical and lighting, creating the commercial kitchen, new bathrooms, modifying the interior layout, and new exterior walls. Working with Bob Piazza to price everything for us and advise us on the decisions we needed to make was a great experience and helped us make sure we could stay in budget. The construction manager process really worked well for us. I believe we had over 150 change orders, and we got more done on that project than I ever thought possible. Bob and site foreman, Russ Rushon, always handled everything with a smile.

When it came time for our smaller add on projects in 2016, I was so happy you agreed to take on the project for us because I did not want to work with anyone else. Again, you sent us great people to work with. Bob Piazza helped us with initial pricing and decisions on scope of work on which we needed help. I got many compliments on how accommodating site foreman, Tom Marra, was to us during construction, and Kyle Aiviano was great to work with on coordinating the final work for us. And by the way, his suggestion on the Tyco lock system was genius. Again we are very happy with how all the work came out.
— Ken Shuskus, West Hartford United Methodist Church President of Trustees

FCG Honored at Annual Berlin Economic Development Awards

Fortunato Construction Group was honored by the Greater New Britain Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday May 24, 2017 at Shuttle Meadow Country Club with the Developer of the Year Award for economic development in the town of Berlin.  Fortunato Construction Group found it's home in Berlin, Connecticut 28 years ago, and has been a proud member of the community ever since.  Congratulations to all of the Berlin businesses honored.  

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Are You Designing and Building with Wellness in Mind?

'The next wave' of design: Why wellness-minded spaces are on the rise

AUTHOR: Kim Slowey 

Kim Slowey@kimslowey

PUBLISHED

Jan. 26, 2017

Via ConstructionDIVE

The push to make buildings more sustainable is nothing new, as the industry has largely embraced the growing trend. The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification system is the most well-known name in the space, as there are more than 59,000 LEED-certified projects totaling 6 billion square feet in 164 countries.

For those up to a more rigorous, holistic endeavor, there is the International Living Future Institute's Living Building Challenge. Candidates navigate requirements such as the incorporation of biophilic components, the building site's impact on neighboring buildings and the environment and its ability to produce as much — or more — energy than it consumes. The cost-savings component of that program has struck a chord with private and public entities alike.

However, another trend related to sustainability is making waves in the industry: wellness. Although less definable than energy-efficient measures, wellness-minded design is growing in popularity as younger generations are pushing for healthier environments in their workplaces and homes.

From quantifiable to more ambiguous

There are several emerging sustainability measures and certifications, but what is the one thing they have in common? It's the fact that "sustainability is mathematically quantifiable," said Dave Hubka, director-commissioning for Transwestern's Sustainability Services group.

However, that isn't the case for the budding attention to occupant wellbeing.

Some wellness features in buildings are measurable, as evidenced by the International Well Building Institute's (IWBI) Well Building Standard certification. Some elements — like particulates in water or the kind of food being sold in the company breakroom — are measurable, but what constitutes one employee's bliss might be another's discomfort.

I think that it is a kind of milieu we’re in driven by younger people who are much more sensitized to everything from environmental issues to sustainability to wellness and quality of life.
— John Kirk, Architect and Partner at Cooper Robertson

 

"Wellness features, it's more difficult to quantify the effects on people," Hubka said. But that doesn't mean business owners, landlords and developers aren’t trying.

Indicating the popularity of the health and wellness philosophy, IWBI has found partners in the American Institute of Architects, the Cleveland Clinic, other sustainability certification programs like LEED and design giants like HKS — which are all trying to create healthy environments for occupants.

Millennials driving the trend

The ever-increasing popularity of healthy living has something to do with it, but that's nothing compared to the sea change that millennials have brought to the wellness table. "I think that it is a kind of milieu we're in, that we're probably going to stay in, driven by younger people who are much more sensitized to everything from environmental issues to sustainability to wellness and quality of life," said John Kirk, architect and partner at Cooper Robertson.

Offices are the biggest testing ground thus far, according to Hubka, with features designed to make workers happier, and therefore more productive. Food choices, high-quality lighting, water and air all serve to create healthier, energized surroundings, but employers are also adding those nebulous quality of life components like an open-desk, first-come-first-served policy called "free addressing," window seating, quiet rooms, days off to perform charity work, mindful eating areas and stress and addiction counseling.  

All considered contributors to wellness — whether certified or not — many of these changes can only be quantified by looking at employee retention, Hubka noted.

Where wellness meets the home

As millennials and other demographics come to expect healthier workplaces, they're likely going to demand it in their living and other social environments as well. Kirk said that in the past, those in the market for custom high-end residences rarely thought twice about the impact of their building on their living environment, but that's starting to change. 

"It seems like LEED and sustainability has become more mainstream. The next wave of what's to come is the people."-Dave Hubka, Director-commissioning for Transwestern's Sustainability Services group

Robert Thorne, CEO and co-founder of The Wellness Habitat Company, said many people have started to realize that while their wellness levels have been beefed up at work, diets have changed for the better and exercise routines have gone into high gear, they've been neglecting air quality, toxins, negative-impact lighting and other important health components in their own homes.

Through the state-of-the-art systems that can, for example, introduce and circulate probiotics in the air, diffuse homeopathic scents throughout the home at the push of a smartphone button, coax residents into a natural circadian rhythm and create stepped water purification systems, homeowners can create a space that connects the dots of their attempts at a healthier lifestyle, according to Thorne. "Your house now starts working for you," he said.

Wellness Habitat also serves the up-and-coming wellness needs of the hospital, hotel, office and multifamily industries. These features can help guests quickly overcome jet lag or help with hospital air quality. Of course, many occupants of high-rises or other residential developments are interested in being as healthy as possible as well.

As millennial-inspired ideas of work-life balance spread though the marketplace, that trend will alter corporate culture, particularly as millennials begin to take over in executive positions and ownership, according to Kirk.

"It seems like LEED and sustainability has become more mainstream," Hubka said. "The next wave of what's to come is the people." 

Run, Run Reindeer!

This past weekend, while many of us were at home trimming our trees and decking the halls, some of our Fortunato Construction group family was out running for a cause. 

Don Lenihan and Nick Chmura joined Deanna Scozzari in Westport, CT at the 2016 Jingle Bell Run for the Arthritis Foundation.  Their team of 29 runners, Run Run Reindeer!, raised just under two thousand dollars at the festive event.  Participants ran a 5k and spent the day celebrating the awareness and money they raised for the Arthritis Foundation - over thirty seven thousand dollars!

Fortunato Construction Group is proud to have sponsored Honoree Deanna and her commitment to helping others overcome some of the difficulties an arthritis diagnosis can present. We'd like to congratulate our runners Don (25:48) and Nick (25:58) for a race well run.  Good work Reindeer!

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Our Team is Growing!

Are you a project manger, estimator, field superintendent, or administrative assistant looking to join a great team? Fortunato Construction Group is looking for you!  

Please visit our Careers page to learn more about the positions available and apply.  We can't wait to hear from you!

“It’s a wonderful company to work for. It’s a great family environment. It’s a happy place to work, and I’ve learned a lot about the entire construction industry as a whole. It’s been great.”
— Erika Norton-Zisa, Project Controls Manager, Employed at Fortunato Construction for 22 Years