Symposium Agenda

The Lunder Innovation Labs renovation project at the historic B&M Bean Plant in Portland, Maine represents the transformation of one of the city’s most recognizable waterfront industrial buildings into a flexible office space that will serve Northeastern University and support innovation and entrepreneurship. This presentation will explore the unique challenges and opportunities associated with restoring and adapting a beloved historic structure while meeting the demands of modern performance, resilience, and occupancy requirements.

Located on Portland’s working waterfront, the project required close collaboration with the City of Portland, Historic Preservation Staff, and numerous stakeholders to preserve the character-defining features of the building while enabling a new use. The presentation will discuss the historic restoration process, including approaches to preserving original architectural elements, integrating contemporary building systems, and navigating regulatory and preservation requirements.

Given the building’s waterfront location, the project also presents significant resilience challenges. The session will examine flood zone constraints, and the strategies employed to protect the building from coastal flooding while maintaining its historic integrity.

When the owners of a timber frame home on Messalonskee Lake in Sidney, Maine, were told by their first energy auditor to “sell their house,” they called Lord Building Solutions for a second opinion. As former snowbirds spending their first brutal winter here, they were burning 400 gallons of propane monthly while remaining freezing and uncomfortable. The project had strict limitations; we had to preserve recent, expensive renovations including a new standing seam metal roof, siding, exterior trim, windows, doors, and finished drywall.

Identifying the vaulted roof as the primary culprit for thermal loss, we executed a surgical, interior-focused strategy. We re-engineered the vaulted roof to increase thermal resistance from R30 to R50, gutted a poorly insulated pantry, insulated a garage ceiling beneath a cold attic, and remediated mold before sealing the mechanical room. We also removed two failing balconies, shifted window locations, replaced a failing heat pump, added a destratification fan, and swapped a low-temp boiler for an efficient high-temp boiler tied directly to their existing hot water system.

Crucially, we prioritized maintaining the home’s original timber frame fabric. Feedback from our clients and other qualified construction professionals has been unanimous: you would never know such substantial energy improvements were made, as the timber frame elements remain beautifully showcased in their full, original form.

Through multiple mid-construction blower door tests, we verified our targeted manual air sealing in real-time. Our efforts were so successful that a budgeted AeroBarrier allowance was never needed. Ultimately, we reduced overall air leakage by 50%, transforming a drafty, high-emissions nightmare into a comfortable, high-performance home without compromising its architectural integrity.

We executed a shallow energy retrofit and renovation on a 200 year old home in Camden, ME. The home had only had two previous owners so it had very few updates from its original form.

We were able to make considerable improvements to the performance of the home without gutting the interior or exterior. These include thermal and moisture improvements as well as air-quality, safety and functionality improvements. The goal was also to preserve the beauty of the home.

Thermal and moisture improvements include; Basement mitigation including; a dimple mat and EPDM vapor barrier on the floor which drains to a sealed sump-pump, CCSF on the stone foundation walls and rims, removing foundation window, air-sealed insulated bulkhead door, a dedicated dehumidifier. New insulation in open exterior cavities. “Thin” double stud wall construction where possible. The attic floor framing was DPC at 8” and then framed an over-frame platform for storage. Then loose-laid another 14” of cellulose on the attic floor. Added custom louvered vents to ensure a vented assembly. Retrofitted the attic door with insulation and air seals. Restored the historic doors and fit them with new sweeps and weather stripping. Restored the historic single-pane windows with new glazing, new sash weight ropes, new sash locks. Built custom sealed storm windows for all the historic windows including egress units where necessary.

• Air quality, Safety and Functional improvements New 400 AMP service.
• Removal of all knob and tube, replaced with grounded wiring.
• Removal of asbestos from ductwork. All new ductwork for furnace.
• Removal of lead paint from the exterior.
• Removal of structurally compromised “connector.”
• Added ASHP for A/C and supplemental heat.
• Radon air-mitigation added.
• New DWV system and new Sewer line to connect with town infrastructure.
• New double -walled flue for furnace. New flashing details at historic chimney.

The homeowners undertook a deep energy retrofit of their 1804 farmhouse in Wiscasset, Maine, after purchasing the property in 2023. The renovation was designed by Kaplan Thompson Architects with Emma Kelly Landscape and Trillium Engineering Group, and the renovation work is being done by Warren Construction (to be completed in August 2026).

The homeowners believed in preserving the character of the old farmhouse but wanted to bring more logic and daylight to its maze of small, dark rooms. Surgical changes were made to existing interior partitions to open up living spaces and raise ceiling heights in key areas above existing 6’-10” ceilings. Consideration was given to aging in place in the house and flexible uses over time. The design also needed to bring a cohesive look to the house’s exterior, which had been altered by incongruous additions in recent decades.

The renovation involved shoring up the existing rubble foundation and reusing the existing 2×4 stud walls. New triple-glazed windows were installed in existing openings, and exterior walls received 4” of rigid exterior insulation. In addition to high performance detailing done by Warren Construction, Aeroseal was used to achieve a .11 ACH50, the tightest air-sealing Lord Building Solutions has achieved to date on a gut renovation. The house is now fully electric with ducted heat pumps, an ERV, and a heat pump water heater. New wood clapboard siding replaced aluminum siding and recalls the farmhouse’s sweet origins.