Project of the Month: Meridian Construction celebrates grand opening of 17,000 s/f St. Sebastian Hall at St. Patrick Academy

Portsmouth, NH Meridian Construction served as general contractor for the construction of a 17,000 s/f multipurpose facility for 150-year-old St. Patrick Academy. The Certificate of Occupancy was granted August 16, 2021 and on September 8, the school held a grand opening ceremony attended by students, staff, family. Also present were representatives from Meridian Construction, architectural firm Oak Point Associates and Altus Engineering.

Designed by Oak Point Associates, St. Sebastian Hall boasts classrooms, locker rooms, arts areas and a multi-sport facility for basketball, volleyball, futsal, tennis and more. As experts in modern school construction with several notable projects to their name, Meridian Construction was the ideal construction management firm to partner with the architects at Oak Point.

Understanding that school buildings are the places where students need to grow and thrive, Meridian Constructions puts industry innovations into place to create spaces that empower not just today’s thinkers and doers, but our futures as well. For St. Patrick Academy, it’s about nurturing the development of mind, body and spirit.

St. Patrick’s needed a gymnasium, but they needed more than that. As a growing school responsible for the academic, physical and spiritual education of close to 100 students from kindergarten through grade eight, they couldn’t devote their budget or physical footprint to a single-purpose space. They needed builders who excel at mixed-use spaces. Meridian Construction built St. Sebastian Hall to fulfill multiple needs. The building expands the school in size and scope by adding flexible teaching and core space. The space also allows for musicals and performing arts, plus STEM, robotics and coding. After the close of each school year, it will provide a central location to host summer programming.

Modern building design and construction techniques produced an energy-efficient facility that uses radiant-heated floors and ingenious ventilation to maintain a comfortable atmosphere. Care was put into creating spaces with diffused natural lighting for the mental and physical well-being of the building’s occupants.

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Tim Long, president of Meridian Construction, said, “It’s a proud moment today here in Portsmouth, with the building of St. Sebastian Hall for St. Patrick Academy. It’s an amazing design and facility that I think will stand for the test of time and build all kinds of young people going forward.”

St. Sebastian Hall was the product of a community effort made possible by St. Patrick Academy’s Hope for Tomorrow Foundation, which raised funds for the new building. And now, that community is blessed with a modern, multifunction, highly efficient new facility that resulted from the inspired design combined with talent and skilled execution of Meridian Construction’s team.

Project team:
Meridian Construction - construction management
SL Chasse Steel - structural steel/misc. metals
Altus Engineering, Inc.. - civil engineers
Metro Walls. - drywall and framing
Yankee Electric & Co. - electrical
KJ Fisher & Sons - site work
Oak Point Architects - architect

Photo credits by Madeline Rublee