Page 72 - BusinessWest October 31, 2022

come up, so PMs manage the change-order pro- cess as well and how to solve problems on behalf of the owner, and come up with solutions to those problems,” he added. “We provide the service for the owner so they feel a comfort level going into a project and through that project — we’re kind of looking out for their best interest.”
“If we have a plan to grow as
a company and take on some of these challenging projects, we’re going to need more people to do that, especially as some of our highly talented, very experienced people start to retire. In terms of age demographics, there are more people going out than people coming in. So that’s a tide that’s working against us too.”
Hughes takes over at a company that has built a strong reputation in recent years in commer- cial housing projects, including two in downtown Amherst in partnership with Archipelago Invest- ments that are attempting to fill a critical shortage
of housing in town — an issue many municipali- ties are facing.
“There’s a lot in the pipeline in the housing sector,” he added. “That’s one thing people come to us with — people trust us based on past per- formance in the housing market, or the commer- cial-housing space,” he said. “We’re working with some developers now on some other potential properties, all in Western Mass. or Connecticut.”
While Western boasts a wheelhouse of sorts in housing, “we have the capability and the capacity to broaden those horizons and take on more chal- lenging projects because of the experience level of our people,” he added, noting, as examples, a current project to build a PeoplesBank branch in South Windsor, Conn., and the firm’s work a few years ago to renovate the Basketball Hall of Fame and update the weatherproofing of its signature sphere, panel by panel.
“Developers and owners come to Western and ask us to help them with their projects because we have close-knit roots in the area,” Hughes went on. “And what I’ve really learned to love about Western is the sense of feeling comfortable and at home and part of the community. That makes Western more attractive to a lot of develop- ers who are coming from New York City or Boston or all over the country to develop Western Mass. And I think we’re ready to take on the challenges of guiding those folks through that journey to develop the area.”
An increasing number of such projects involve passive housing, which is a voluntary standard for energy-efficiency in a building, he added. “We
Western
Continued on page 80
Western’s 26 Spring development is among the projects in Amherst aimed at mitigating the town’s housing shortage.
72 OCTOBER 31, 2022
CONSTRUCTION
BusinessWest