Belfast’s former armory has a new tenant bringing eco-friendly building materials to Maine.
OPAL Build started work this year in the armory built in 1940 by the National Guard, which withdrew in 2018, according to the Republican Journal.
The crew is now assembling green building materials in founder Matthew O’Malia’s hometown of 20 years. He calls it a natural next step in a mission to foster sustainable infrastructure and industry in Maine, a sector in which his vertically integrated set of companies are playing a leading role.
“We are supported and have developed because there’s been a lot of like minded people who want to do right by the planet and do right by people in the community,” he said.
OPAL’s origins date back to 2008, when O’Malia, a Belfast resident for 20 years, co-founded an architecture firm of the same name. OPAL is a player in the national passive house movement, which aims to construct buildings with energy-efficient insulation to reduce emissions.
In 2017, O’Malia expanded his network of companies with business partner Josh Henry. GO Lab, which purchased the former Madison paper mill in 2019, makes sustainable softwood chips. HP Timber was then founded in 2023 to create wood fiber insulation in Madison. In Belfast, OPAL Build is roofs and structural walls with wood fiber insulation from Madison.
OPAL has so far created energy-efficient building infrastructure for the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Cornerspring Montessori School in Belfast, the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, and a field research station on Hurricane Island in Penobscot Bay.
The mission is to diminish the environmental impacts of buildings and construction. In 2018, 39 percent of energy and industrial emissions were caused by buildings and the construction industry, according to an International Energy Agency report.
“Architects and builders and planners, the work that we do every day is going to either positively impact the environment or negatively impact it,” O’Malia said. “Going to work, I’m trying to figure out, ‘How can we be more sustainable? How can we help improve the climate rather than degrade it?’”
O’Malia’s firm was previously creating designs with energy-efficient materials with a large carbon footprint, like foam and fiberglass. OPAL is now using wood waste from lumber mills with a negative carbon footprint to create insulation requiring less energy for heating and cooling.
“The insulation doesn’t contribute to the carbon problem and actually helps solve it not only from the operational savings but storing carbon in the material,” O’Malia said.
It is also creating new job opportunities for carpenters. In its current form, OPAL is building a team of 20 in Belfast with plans to continue expanding as the company grows.
“Our goal is to really optimize our labor force here,” O’Malia said. “… There’s a lot of talent in the area.”
