As real estate developer Sean Ireland renovates the historic 1930s Grant Building in downtown Bath into a mixed-use space for workers, artists and residents, he has teamed up with photographer Joshua Langlais to document the people doing the work through photos and interviews to highlight the importance of their trades.

The 23,000-square-foot, four-story building at 31 Centre St. will house four residential apartments, a gallery space for events, private offices, work cubicles, locker rooms, a black-box theater and potentially a bar lounge.

Once completed, the Grant Building is expected to open in July 2023.

Coming from a family of artists and contractors, Ireland said documenting the restoration could break down the barrier between the blue- and white-collar professions. Normally, he said, real estate developers and bankers get all the credit for the buildings they renovate, rather than the contractors who do the labor.

“Having done several of these kinds of real estate projects, I wanted to find a way to highlight and draw attention to the boots-on-the-ground people, the ones getting their hands dirty and showing up day after day for months at a time battling the often harsh and unpredictable conditions and elements of a construction project,” Ireland said.

Ranging from an 18-year-old construction worker who just applied to Yale University to a longtime carpenter who owns his own food truck, Ireland said he has a very “unique team” rehabbing the historic structure.

Langlais said the contractors weren’t used to being in the limelight and having their pictures taken.

“The guys didn’t know what to think at first,” Langlais said. “In fact, most of these guys are pretty private and modest and they are not used to having their pictures taken or being interviewed. I took my time getting to know everyone and explained to them what we were doing and made sure they felt included in the process. It’s been a challenging assignment — often not great light, lots of noise and distractions, and, of course, not wanting to get in the way.”

Mason and carpenter Al Ouellette told Langlais in an interview that the hardest part of the rehab so far has been lifting and installing 700-pound steel beams.

“A lot of times on these rehab jobs you don’t know what you are getting into until you tear it apart. You’ve got to adjust things on the fly sometimes,” Oullette said.

The building was originally built as a department store in the 1930s.

Ireland said it wasn’t until the 1970s to 1990s that Bath Iron Works rebranded the building as a training station. He said Navy and Coast Guard personnel used the space to mock retro-fit ships and practice welding, electronics and navigation.

He said due to BIW’s extensive use of the building, his contractors had to remove more than 3 miles of pipes, 10.5 miles of wiring and “insane amounts of material to get it back to its bones.”

Ireland and his partner Mandy Reynolds own and operate Union & Co, a co-working office space on Front Street in downtown Bath. Ireland said they opened the space right before the COVID-19 pandemic and business was slow.

Now that remote work is gaining momentum, he said co-working spaces are becoming essential for people who are working from home in places where internet coverage is slow or unreliable.

With the choice of renting space by the day, week or month, Ireland said what makes the Grant Building different from other co-working spaces will be its inclusion of the arts.

He said Bath identifies as an “arts community and we want to embrace that.”

Langlais’ photography and auditory exhibit will be featured for six months on the first-floor gallery when the building opens.

To learn more or view the art exhibit, visit 31centrestreet.com.

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