On Tuesday, May 23, T&L was invited to join BurWil at the 2023 Historic Preservation Awards ceremony for the New Peoples Bank project located at 901 West State Street, Bristol, Virginia.
T&L worked on this project for Burwil that was nominated in the City Wide category, meaning it is not within a historic district. The committee felt that the project deserved recognition as a 1924 structure that was renovated in a way which greatly improved the entrance into Historic Downtown Bristol, reused an existing structure instead of tearing it down and used materials such as brick and stone which reference nearby historic structures.
Lead Architect Elliott Lambert, AIA, of T&L’s Bristol office attended the event and represented T&L as New Peoples Bank was presented the plaque for the City Wide Historic Preservation Award.
The newly renovated Thompson & Litton (T&L) Princeton, West Virginia office was officially celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of the Two Virginias on Tuesday, May 23.
T&L’s President Greg Hurst, PE, welcomed employees, clients and other stakeholders from the community to the celebration. Hurst remarked that T&L felt this was needed as an investment in the community and to employees at the office because “…we’re proud of what they’re doing in serving the region and thought that they deserved the best office that we could provide for them”.
T&L acquired the firm in 2019 that previously occupied the location at 1105 Mercer Street. As staff continues to grow, as well as the infrastructure services T&L provides to this region, it was time for a renovation. Employees assisted in this endeavor by working remotely and reporting back to set up their new offices and prepare for the celebration.
President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of the Two Virginias Jeff Disibbio was excited to welcome the staff back to the office. Following the ribbon cutting there was a catered lunch, door prizes, tours and a lot of fellowship. T&L also appreciated local media that came out to capture the event and spread the word.
You can read the article posted on their website here: https://www.bigstonegappost.com/articles/16015/view
Article re-posted on our site with permission from bigstonegappost.com.
Union Primary addition opening celebrated
May 11, 2023
by KENNETH CROWSON • STAFF WRITER
BIG STONE GAP — Union Primary School’s six-classroom addition will better accommodate creative classes, students with special needs and those seeking physical wellness.
The wing’s ribbon cutting took place yesterday at 10 a.m., and while the classrooms are currently missing furniture and equipment, school alum and Principal Heather Sykes said the rooms will be ready for use by the start of the 2023-24 school year.
The addition will house an art room, a music room, an occupational and physical therapy room, a resource room for autistic students and two rooms to be used for remediation and Title I purposes. Title I is a federal educational financial assistance program.
Superintendent Mike Goforth said Union Primary School was the most at-need school for space, hence the investment.
The $3.4 million project was fully funded by the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. Grants are awarded through this federal fund to ease the burden that COVID-19 has placed on education agencies.
Thompson & Litton designed the wing while Quesenberry’s Inc. constructed it and Skanska acted as the “go between,” facilitating the state application process and aiding the division with other logistics, according to Goforth.
Stakeholders gathered Saturday, April 29 for the dedication of the much-anticipated Chimney Swift Tower at McHarg Elementary School designed by T&L’s own Erica Sunshine, AIA.
Erica Sunshine, Director of Architecture of VA/WV, worked closely with bird enthusiasts/donors to design a maintenance free Chimney Swift Tower that coordinates not only with the new school design but provides a learning experience for all. The Tower is equipped with two cameras that capture the Swifts flying overhead and nesting. A QR Code will provide access for the community to follow along on the Tower happenings.
Chimney Swifts have lost 50% of their population, one pair of Swifts will call this Tower home, but it can also be used as a communal roosting site when the birds migrant to Peru, up to 150 pairs may pass through each season. They are best seen just after dinnertime in the evenings and typically fly overhead in a circular pattern.
Prior to this new home for the Chimney Swifts the birds roosted in a chimney that had been in place since the school was built in 1957. When the remodel of the school required that the old chimney, no longer used, be dismantled, it was taken down in late August 2020. Radford lost an important spring and summer nesting site for dozens of Chimney Swifts during this time. Chimney Swifts are beneficial to the city. Each bird eats up to 12,000 mosquitoes, termites, flies, and other insects a day.
Chimney Swift populations are in decline across the country. Radford is fortunate to have one of Virginia’s premier birders and naturalists here in their community, Clyde Kessler. He has been monitoring and recording data on the McHarg swifts since the early 1980s. The chimney swift numbers in the vicinity of McHarg peaked at 209 birds on August 29, 2011. In 2019 the highest count was 74 on September 12.
Others that were instrumental in raising funding for the project and educating the public were Wilson Rankin – Long-time member of Pathways for Radford and steward of Wildwood Park; Bob Sheehy – One of the founding members of Pathways for Radford and Liz Altieri – Liz is also a long-time member of Pathways for Radford, and her aspirations are to teach young children about plants, birds, and nature someday when she retires.
To learn more, please visit the McHarg Renovation page at https://sites.google.com/rcps.org/mcharg-project/home
First Place Award Heads to National Plat Contest
Thompson & Litton’s Survey Department excels in the Annual Virginia Association of Surveyors Plat Contest with two substantial awards.
The plats were judged at the Annual Convention held in Newport News, Virginia on April 12 – 15. The Marriott City Center hosted the awards banquet and dinner on Friday April 14th. Matt Mosteller, LS, and Michael Miller attended and represented the T&L Survey Department at the event, where they received a first-place recognition for the Miscellaneous category and a second-place recognition in the Subdivision category out of the all the plats entered statewide.
The plats submitted were a topographical survey of a bridge on the Blue Ridge Parkway over Route 220 in Roanoke County, Virginia. T&L survey crews performed the field work with a robotic scan station and static GPS receivers. This project incorporated terrestrial scanning, conventional surveying, and the creation of a GPS control network. Mike Countiss performed the drafting on the Miscellaneous plat with Matt Mosteller, LS sealing the plat. Josh Holbrook with the assistance of Michael Miller drafted the Subdivision plat created from a parcel in Pulaski County, Virginia while Matt Mosteller, LS sealed the plat.
The award-winning plats will be on display at the Radford Annex office along with the 1st and 2nd place plaques. The first-place miscellaneous plat is going on to the National Society of Professional Surveyors national plat contest for judging later this year.
