Sealaska and Connecticut Governor Celebrate National Guard Ready Building Completion

Sealaska and the Connecticut National Guard recently celebrated the completion of a state-of-the-art operations and training facility in Windsor Locks, CT. The facility will serve as headquarters for a highly specialized Connecticut National Guard disaster response team. 

The ready building, located at Connecticut National Guard’s Camp Hartell, will be the first of its kind in the United States, housing the Guard’s 14th Civil Support Team (CST). This team provides highly trained support to authorities and first responders during domestic threats such as nuclear, chemical, biological or radiological dangers.

The new ready building center will house 22 full-time Connecticut Army and Air National Guard members, all with unique military capabilities, expertise and technologies to assist state and local authorities in preparing for and responding to major potential threats and disaster declarations.

Sealaska served as prime contractor for the nearly two-year, $10 million project, overseeing the design and construction of the facility for the Department of Defense and Connecticut Army National Guard.

Sealaska Constructors, a subsidiary of Sealaska, is a full-service construction management firm based in Seattle, specializing in complex, highly sophisticated design and the construction of commercial and industrial projects. Sealaska’s project team consisted of Project Manager Heath Barger, Director of Operations Dave McQueen and Superintendent Fred Brooling.

Barger, a Sealaska shareholder, was the on-site project manager, managing daily operations and providing regular updates to the Guard, as well as ensuring on-site quality control and coordination of field work with on-site subcontractors and suppliers.

“Incorporating the building’s many complex design requirements and unique needs of the Army’s civil support team was our biggest challenge, but we successfully delivered the project.  With similar facilities like this being proposed for other National Guard units around the country, it is Sealaska’s goal to be on the short-list of companies to design and build the next facility,” Barger said.

“The revitalization of Camp Hartell continues with the official opening of the CST’s Ready Building,” said Major General Thad Martin, Adjutant General and Commander of the Connecticut National Guard in a statement about the ribbon cutting. “Now, this highly qualified group of Soldiers and Airmen has a custom facility to call their own as they continue serving the community at large with their unique skill set.”