The Boston metropolitan area serves as an international hub of higher learning and is home to more than 50 colleges and universities, including Harvard, MIT and Tufts.

Among the area’s largest private schools is Northeastern University with 38,000 students. This explains why the recent renovation of the school’s 200,000-square-foot, four-story Snell Library was a monumental undertaking.

The library’s electrical infrastructure was state-of-the-art when the library was built in 1990, but it no longer met today’s energy codes, said Ed Zipper, project manager for J&M Brown Co., Dedham, Mass.

The company completed comprehensive interior lighting and power renovations, as well as fire alarm system upgrades.

The recently renovated Snell Library now proudly represents Northeastern University, the largest privately owned university in the Boston area, thanks to the work of J&M Brown Co.

The careful coordination of three work phases with the general contractor—Columbia Construction of North Reading, Mass.—resulted in minimal disruption to students and staff during the project, which commenced in December 2022 and spanned two years.

J&M Brown brought in new power and electrical distribution upgrades that included two new utility closets, new risers with panelboards on each of the library’s four floors, new conduit and raceways, and installing power receptacles for computers.

The overall renovation effort allowed the library to take on a whole new look and function, as well as added safety.

Brightly lit gathering spaces and new seating replaced areas once occupied by bookshelves.

Brightly lit seating areas can now be found throughout Northeastern University's renovated Snell Library.

“The library still features books, but the place now has many more comfortable areas for students to do their work and study using laptops,” Zipper said.

Harsh florescent lighting was replaced by 2,800 pendant-style LED lighting fixtures with “light temperature controls” that support optimal conditions for reading and research.

Energy conservation was integral to the university’s goals for the renovation. The lighting system features occupancy sensors and daylight harvesting near windows that line the outside of the building.

Whether on-site or working remotely, university staff now use the library’s cloud-based Lutron wireless lighting control system to adjust brightness, timing and efficiency levels. The fully integrated system includes 160 lighting control panels, 480 ceiling sensors and 195 wall controllers.

“It’s more computer-based than home lighting control systems, and it has zoned controls that group lights and rooms together so they can be dimmed and turned on,” Zipper said.

Northeastern University's Snell Library now includes brightly lit presentation rooms.

Fire alarm upgrades included installation of 40 pull stations and smoke detectors and integration of 255 fire alarm sounding devices. J&M Brown also performed system testing.

“This was a complex project because we had to decommission and remove portions of the old system and still keep some portions,” Zipper said.

Project work commenced in the library’s basement and on the fourth floor. Despite using the latest BIM, CAD and Trimble technologies to follow architectural plans with crucial information provided by various trade groups also working on the project, there were some surprises that required additional collaboration.

“Duct work was the biggest challenge,” Zipper said. “The architect draws a light fixture for a certain place, but sometimes you can’t put it there because there’s a heating duct. You can’t just move one fixture to make it fit. You have to get the architect to buy in and file an RFI [request for information]. Then the architect has three weeks to respond.”

Fortunately, response times from the architectural firm, MGA Partners Architects in Philadelphia, were quick, Zipper said.

Two other ECs were involved in the project. Gaston Electrical Co. Inc., Norwood, Mass., handled the teledata portion of the project. J.M. Electrical Co. Inc. of Lynnfield, Mass., handled the HVAC.

And thanks to a dedicated crew of IBEW 103 journeymen and apprentice electricians that numbered from 5 to 18 at any given time, depending on project needs, the project finished on time.

J&M Brown also worked on Northeastern University’s Snell Engineering Center’s Civil and Environmental Engineering project and on the Curry Student Center Ballroom.

All photos by Andrew Horvitz, Horvitz Communications