HUNTINGTON, WV – Recently Louis Weisberg, President of Service Wire, Co., stood in the vast atrium of the Arthur Weisberg Family Applied Engineering Complex. He was impressed, not only by the massive amounts of concrete and steel, but by the realization of his father’s dream and what it means to Marshall University students and alumni, West Virginia and its neighboring states.
Louis and his wife, Liz, along with their daughters, Trish and Marlo took a tour of the construction including all four floors of the facility. The building was named after Louis’ late father, businessman Arthur Weisberg. His substantial contribution to the University has allowed for further expansion of their engineering degree programs.
“Art would be so proud of the educational opportunities the complex will provide,” Louis Weisberg said of his father. “He was passionate about the role this engineering school would have on the economic outlook for students. My father believed that a degree in Engineering opens people’s minds to solve complex problems by developing a wide array of systems and disciplines.”
The building will be the first on Marshall’s campus to be LEED certified. The Silver Level certification is quite an accomplishment given the building’s size and the incorporation of lab space.
According to Ron May, Director of Facilities Planning and Management, the building will be 18% more efficient than the average standards for similar facilities. Some of the aspects contributing to this efficiency are a green vegetative roof, unique storm water piping, a heat recovery system and the use of regional materials – including all the wire used in the building which was manufactured just 25 miles away at Service Wire, Co.
The miles of specially engineered wire, including Feeder MC and ServicePlex®, used inside the building were manufactured by Service Wire, Co., headquartered in Culloden, West Virginia. According to Seth Weisberg, Senior VP, “All of the wire is produced in West Virginia by West Virginians. Our employees are proud to have contributed to this landmark building.”
But Service Wire did more than just manufacture the wire used in the building. Their sales and engineering team have been involved since the planning stages with John Harris of Bastian & Harris Architects in Charleston, WV.
The $56 million, 150,000 square-foot facility is slightly ahead of completion schedule, according to Shawn Dixon, President of Dixon Electric, the contracting firm for this huge project. Dixon’s estimator calculated a labor savings of 40% by using FeederMC versus traditional pipe and wire. A similar savings was calculated in using ServicePlex® instead of single conductors. Actual savings in man-hours greatly exceeded these estimates.
Dixon stated, “Using the Service Wire products saved us a lot of time on this construction, and we will be using them again.”
“There are so many things about this project for our company and my family to be proud of,” stated Louis Weisberg. “I know Art would be very pleased.”
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