WMU’s Heritage Hall Renovation Picks Up Prestigious Award

Two Tower-Pinkster engineers picked up a really prestigious award for their work in renovating the birthplace of Western Michigan University.ASHRAE, which is a world-wide society of building engineers, awarded it's Award of Engineering Excellence for 2018 to Jonathan Rumohr and Jesse Hendershot, who also are both WMU alumni. What makes this even more special, the honor has only been awarded five times in the past 30 years.

Heritage Hall opened over a century ago, in 1905, just after the school did in 1903, and is now "Heritage Hall Alumni Center".

"The University is very forward thinking and holds high standards for energy efficiency and sustainability. WMU leaders presented their vision of turning the oldest, most inefficient building on campus into the highest performing building, while maintaining its historic character. Our team brought their vision to life. It is a truly remarkable transformation. Jon, Jesse, and the entire team’s design efforts were recognized above all entries around the world, bringing global attention to Heritage Hall and to WMU."

- Bjorn Green, president and CEO, TowerPinkster .

Heritage Hall reopened in late 2015, after work began a year and a half earlier.

"Before its renovation, the 53,000-square-foot Heritage Hall had no insulation or central cooling and utilized campus steam for heating. A series of chimneys throughout the building functioned only to permit fresh air to circulate. Today, the facility is heated and cooled by 56 geothermal wells using 50 percent less energy than more traditionally heated and cooled buildings. In addition, 100 percent of ventilation air goes through a heat-recovery unit. Energy efficient LED lighting was also installed leading to a 60 percent reduction in energy used for lighting."  - WMU release

BONUS VIDEO