May 21, 2019 – Newport, ME – For over 30 years, Bowman Constructors has been known for their commercial building projects throughout the state of Maine. From erecting a new K–8 community school in Caribou, to constructing multiple financial institutions in the town of Waterville, to Beals Island where they built a new addition to their research laboratory and residence hall for Downeast Institute.

However, when the need for affordable senior housing began to grow, Bowman Constructors saw an opportunity to use their experience to tackle a new challenge.

“The biggest issue, in affordable housing, is the long-term operational costs,” explained Brian Bowman. “With our multi-unit housing plan, we have been able to solve that challenge and create a near NetZero housing model that can easily be replicated throughout the state.”

Bowman Constructors teamed with WBRC Architects/Engineers to create a building energy system that includes a south-facing 100KW solar-paneled roofing system with a Central Maine Power net metering agreement to eliminate the need for fossil fuel and fossil fuel mechanical systems. Also part of this energy-saving design are super insulation, triple-paned windows, LED lighting, methods for capturing the heat from the solar inverter and using that to heat the water, and an electric baseboard, coupled with a whole building energy recovery system, to heat the building.

“The biggest takeaway is that this works!” says Bowman. “As owners of two of these units, we see the long-term benefit and are excited to be able to do our part to help solve the issue of affordable senior housing in our state.”

With more state funding opening up to create more housing units, the Bowman/WBRC team is ready to help developers and housing authorities increase their QAP application score and get our state’s seniors in their new homes up to six months sooner.