Growing the BIC The Berkshire Innovation Center is planning a 7,000-square-foot expansion to house a new advanced optics manufacturing lab. Page 3
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Berkshire Business Journal NOVEMBER 2025 I VOL. 4, NO. 11
Legacy in limestone
TARA MONASTESSE
Oldcastle Lawn & Garden was recently named a 2025 Mass Save Climate Leader for its commitment to sustainability, reducing emissions and lowering its energy consumption. “You don’t see a lot of environmental awards in a rock quarry,” said Brett Larmon, Oldcastle’s vice president of northeast operations, above.
Lee quarry honored for commitment to sustainability BY TARA MONASTESSE The Berkshire Eagle LEE — Oldcastle Lawn & Garden is one of
the area’s largest employers, but most local residents are only dimly aware of the fact that 150,000 tons of limestone are being harvested annually from a quarry in their neighborhood. Until they feel a tiny shake. About every four to six weeks, semiliquid explosives are used to blast away sections of rock at the Lee limestone quarry, fittingly located off of Marble Street. The harvested material will soon be washed, packaged and shipped from
sions and lowering its the site, becoming the energy consumption. gravel and decorative The white limestone “You don’t see a lot of stone lining the lawns environmental awards and gardens of homes is coveted for its in a rock quarry,” said all over the country. But the company isn’t decorative value, while Brett Larmon, Oldcastle Lawn & Garden’s just making the world other shades can be vice president of northmore beautiful. It’s saveast operations. But ing it, too. used for garden and through a partnership The Oldcastle Lawn & with Berkshire Gas — Garden location in Lee soil products. as well as “hours of do— often mistakenly referred to by its old name, Oldcastle Stone ing spreadsheets and doing numbers,” he Products — was recently named a 2025 said — the company last year reduced the Mass Save Climate Leader for its com- rate of dekatherms (units of natural gas) mitment to sustainability, reducing emis- used to produce each ton of stone pellets
by an estimated 25 to 30 percent. Oldcastle Lawn & Garden — owned by CRH Americas, which is headquartered in Dublin — is now strategizing to further reduce its consumption of diesel fuels and other resources. Jonathan Pennell, site manager, said he’s gathering data from the company’s utility bills to identify areas where the site can cut down on energy usage. Company leaders accepted the award in Boston on Oct. 15 at the Massachusetts Statehouse, a building ironically made mostly of granite. But many other historic buildings throughout the state — and LEE QUARRY, Page 2