INTERSTATE ELECTRICAL POWERS UP BABSON COLLEGE
Company Delivers $3.4M Expansion and Upgrade Program

Wellesley, MA - Expansion of student facilities and increasing reliance on technology has led to a college-wide upgrade and renewal of the Babson College campus in Wellesley, Massachusetts. This multi-year program includes the significant upgrading of electrical power and distribution systems throughout the 370-acre campus by Interstate Electrical Services Corporation.

Interstate Electrical Services, working with the project’s general contractor Shawmut Design and Construction, is completing Phase 2 installations as part of the $3.4 Million electrical construction upgrade program at Babson. Interstate’s role includes installing new high voltage electrical service for all campus buildings, and replacing or upgrading over fifty individual high voltage transformers.

According to Interstate’s Project Manager John Gillooly, the crucial element of the work involves careful phasing of the installations to avoid interruptions in electrical services or data services for the 3,500 Babson students. The work, which involved significant amounts of digging and deep trench work while classes were in session, had to be transparent to students and faculty passing multiple construction sites every day.

“We were able to work around the campus calendar so that the work went largely unnoticed by students, faculty and staff,” Gillooly explained. “Any shutdowns of electrical power were done during semester break, or scheduled for times when buildings were empty,” he added.

The comprehensive renewal program included:
• Over 10 miles of new electrical conduit systems for high voltage distribution
• 30 high voltage transformers were either upgraded or reworked to provide service to 40 buildings
• New walkway and street lighting systems
• 3 High voltage switches
• Backup generator system during construction

According to Randy Catlin, the project manager for Shawmut Construction, Interstate’s experience was a big factor at Babson. “The kind of work we are doing requires a lot of attention to detail, a command of project logistics, and a lot of critical documentation needs to be completed. These are carefully handled by Interstate. They are very flexible with us and the client, able to address the quickly changing needs and requests of a client like Babson College,” he explained.

“Before anything new could be installed, Interstate had to dig out what we call ‘direct buried’ 13,800 volt power lines,” he continued. “Any time you disrupt old equipment like that, it’s very unpredictable and potentially dangerous. Interstate was able to complete this replacement and install new high voltage distribution lines for every building on the campus - without a single mishap, injury or schedule problem,” Catlin said.

Babson College is perennially ranked among the nation’s best business colleges, and is ranked #1 by US News and World Report for its “entrepreneurial” business instruction. The college is also ranked among the Top 15 graduate business schools for custom Executive Education programs (“America’s Best Colleges”; US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, April 2003). Babson’s student population is evenly split between undergraduate and graduate enrollment, with international students making up nearly 20% of the overall student body.

One of the reasons for upgrading old electrical systems and network systems upgrades on campuses is the escalating importance of technology in every facet of higher education. From wireless networks serving student laptops to library databases providing 24x7 online research, networks and electrical infrastructure are becoming crucial “lifelines” connecting the modern academic community with each other and the world.

“The reliability of critical campus infrastructure systems is the number one concern we hear about from university clients,” observed Michael Gould, Business Development Manager of Interstate. “At Babson, they were experiencing system failures due to the age and condition of their infrastructure. With this new generation of equipment and upgrades on the campus, they can look forward to strong reliability and safety for many years to come.”