Historic Renovation

IMEG provided mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and technology engineering design and services for the renovation of January Hall at Washington University in St. Louis, the first building on campus to be LEED v4 Platinum certified and a recipient of an ACEC Missouri 2021 Excellence in Engineering Grand Award. The three-story building was constructed in the 1920s and has undergone various minor renovations throughout its existence. This 30,000-sf renovation is the first major construction project in the historic building and was completed in a compressed eight-month time frame while meeting the university’s goal of becoming 20 percent more energy efficient.

The renovation of the two lower floors, which house classrooms, offices, and active learning labs, included completely replacing the mechanical, electrical, and technology systems throughout the building and adding fire protection sprinklers to the two lower floors with accommodations to be extended to the top floor in a future project.

The building is projected to have energy cost savings of 30.8 percent and energy usage savings of 25.9 percent based on ASHRAE 90.1-2010. In order to achieve even more energy savings, the University decided to allocate a 25 kW photovoltaic array to the project, resulting in an additional energy cost savings of 6.4% and energy usage savings of 9.9%. This equated to a total energy cost savings of 37.2% and a total energy usage savings of 35.8%, far exceeding the initial goals set by the University. Water savings is designed to be approximately 44 percent.

January Hall now serves as an example of how to sustainably renovate a historic building and highlights the university’s commitment to the health, safety, and wellbeing of their staff and students, as well as the local and global environment.