BUILDING ENVELOPE REPAIR AND THERMAL
COLLECTION—WSU

Wright State University (WSU) recently turned to Woolpert to implement a roof and building envelope replacement program for its Dayton campus. By uniquely leveraging architectural, engineering and geospatial services, Woolpert completed the following project tasks:

• Evaluation of 13 campus buildings for repairs/replacement
• Preparation of architectural and engineering drawings, specifications and design-build RFP documents
• Collection, processing and analysis of aerial thermal imagery
• Procurement of a cloud-based roofing asset management system

The project team selected a winter night with a large difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures to collect geospatially accurate, aerial thermal imagery across the entire 557-acre campus. Woolpert then used the data to analyze roof moisture spots and heat losses and prioritize worst-first roof investments.

The thermal imagery revealed interesting sources of energy loss, such as building facades, and simplified the identification of troubled curtainwall locations. The imagery also acted like an x-ray, verifying the locations of underground utility tunnels and trenches while depicting subsurface abnormalities from steam and chilled water utility infrastructure leaks. These leaks accounted for large energy losses, both in terms of resource waste and excessive cost.

Woolpert’s compelling imagery validated the university’s roof investment strategy and became an essential component of communications with campus stakeholders and leaders. The RFP documents established the framework for the successful procurement of the needed repairs as well as a secure, cloud-based asset management system. Populated with accurate building condition data, photographs, warranties, expenses and relevant records, the asset management system enables the university to track inspections, prioritize future work and funding needs and schedule preventative maintenance.