WEEKEND WORK: LOUD, BUT PROUD
Overtime needed to keep up with city’s growth
Boston’s building boom continues to hum along, with dozens of Hub projects tapping workers to come in even on the weekend after Thanksgiving. This weekend, roughly 60 projects big and small were granted permission by the city to work outside of normal work hours, between 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Those projects included 1 Dalton, GE’s new headquarters and the TD Garden. Construction including demolition, erection, alteration or repair to any building outside of those hours requires approval from the city’s Inspectional Services Department. “It is a sign of a healthy city. When you have nothing going on in the city and there is no traffic and there is no congestion and there is no people, that is not a healthy city,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. “In a recession, we’ll be wishing something happened and I think that there is incredible growth going on right now in our city. Boston is a place where people want to be, where people want to live and work and hang out here. That is important.” With winter fast approaching and precious few days of decent weather left, many projects are likely trying to accomplish as much as possible before the winter weather is here to stay. GE, which is building its new headquarters at 5 Necco St. in the Seaport, said in its application its weekend work is meant to “expedite the installations of windows.” Others, including the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, appear to be working on the weekend to minimize disruption. In the research institute’s application for off-hours work, they cite the reason for their boom lift work as “per request of Children’s Hospital,” Dana Farber’s Longwood Medical Area neighbor. Many contractors did not disclose the actual reason for the weekend work on their applications. Construction crews
closed down portions of High Street in the Financial District yesterday to install a new HVAC system on one of the building rooftops. “I’ve been here since 5 this morning,” a construction worker told the Herald. “We’ll be here tonight and again tomorrow. … You can rack up a lot of hours.” A few streets down, masonry laborers were repairing the facade above the Fidelity building on Franklin Street yesterday. One of the contractors with P.J. Spillane Co., said that there is “definitely opportunities here when there is so many new construction (projects) going on.” Though the pace of Boston development seems like it must have to slow down eventually, the number of construction jobs in the region has continued to grow. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Boston region had more than 125,000 employees in the Logging, Mining and Construction sector, compared to 118,000 a year before. Still, some say the weekend work can be disruptive, especially in Boston’s more residential neighborhoods. Earlier this year, ISD agreed to only permit off-hours work in the South End for emergency repairs or out of necessity for public safety. “There were some situations that were extremely loud, including on Sundays,” said James Fox, copresident of the Union Park Neighborhood Association. “It varied, from projects that were a little bit annoying to projects that were so loud that prevented people’s ability to sleep late on Saturdays and Sundays.”