Pitt-Johnstown’s Engineering and Science Building earned a LEED certification

The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown’s John P. Murtha Engineering and Science Building has achieved a LEED-certified designation following its recent renovation.

The renovation included a chemical engineering building addition that houses laboratories, classrooms, study spaces and faculty offices. New labs provide areas for student experiments related to chemical separation, thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer, process control, and reaction engineering, as well as a simulation lab. 

The new building takes numerous strides in sustainability, including keeping a major portion of the building envelope, reducing light pollution and reducing heat island effects. The building also added energy recovery equipment for new laboratory mechanical systems, variable frequency drives for pumps and fans, and building automation.

This makes 18 total LEED-certified spaces across Pitt campuses, totaling 1.39 million square feet. It’s Pitt-Johnstown’s third LEED certified space, following the Nursing & Health Sciences Building in 2015 and the John P. Murtha Center in 2022. 

The LEED green building rating system, the most widely used of its kind, awards points to projects that address carbon, energy, water, waste, transportation, materials, health and indoor environmental quality.

Read more about Pitt’s sustainability commitments and the latest sustainability progress report.

- Nick France, photography by Aimee Obidzinski