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First Posted: 3/27/2014 FORTY FORT &#8212; Sensing the chance to tap into the natural gas industry &#8212; and increase its ability to provide myriad other engineering, code inspections and grant writing services to municipalities &#8212; Barry Isett & Associates Inc. has opened its second Luzerne County office.
The firm is leasing space at 150 Welles St., Forty Fort, from Mericle Commercial Real Estate and has a staff of six that have been relocated from the firm&#8217;s other offices.
&#8220;We have seen tremendous growth in Northeast Pennsylvania,&#8221; company President Kevin T. Campbell said in an email. &#8220;Our Forty Fort office affords greater convenience to our clients in the greater Wilkes-Barre/Scranton metro area. Gregg Pavlick, who has been instrumental in developing the Hazleton area market, will also manage the Forty Fort office.&#8221;
Pavlick said the company has a presence in Luzerne County as it provides support with the Uniform Construction Code to numerous municipalities including Dallas, Shickshinny and Harveys Lake boroughs and Plymouth, Salem and Union townships.
The Lehigh Valley-headquartered firm has also been involved in notable local projects including providing the structural engineering design in the expansion of Scandlon Gymnasium at King&#8217;s College, structural, mechanical and plumbing design of renovations at the Wilkes-Barre Veterans Administration Medical Center in Plains Township and engineering design for the team offices for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
In addition to its Allentown and two Luzerne County offices, the firm has offices in Phoenixville and Phillipsburg, N.J.
Pavlick said the company &#8220;is one of the few firms that doesn&#8217;t do much with the natural gas industry and that&#8217;s where we see the growth potential.&#8221; He said getting to northern Luzerne County, closer to pipelines and well pads in Susquehanna, Wyoming and Bradford counties, will be a step in that direction both literally and figuratively.
He said the Hazleton office, which opened 13 years ago, has been a huge help in the company being able to get its foot into Luzerne County and to expand its services northward from the Lehigh Valley. He said the Forty Fort office is a natural progression northward.
The company, though it has no architects on staff, offers a variety of other services in the engineering, code inspection and surveying fields. He said it&#8217;s currently looking to add to the company&#8217;s staff of more than 100 by hiring civil engineers, UCC inspectors, mechanical and electrical plumbing engineers and property maintenance workers.
He believes there are a lot of people from this area working in those fields but travelling out of the area who would like to work closer to home and he hopes they&#8217;ll apply.

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