Madison Municipal Building restoration project earns state, national awards

posted May 15, 2019 – 3:06pm

The City of Engineering Division earned two prestigious awards for historic restoration of the Madison Municipal Building (MMB). The Division’s Facilities Design Group worked with MSR Design and JP Cullen.

The MMB earned a state and national Project of the Year award from the American Public Works Association (APWA). The MMB earned the national award in the category of historic restoration/preservation between $5 million-$25 million.

The MMB also earned the APWA-Wisconsin Chapter Project of the Year Award, for 2019. The Public Works Project of the Year Award recognizes the strong alliance between the managing agency, the consultant/architect/engineer and the contractor to complete public works projects.

“Identifying common goals between the city and design team was a critical part of the process from the beginning,” according to MSR Design. “A wide range of city staff from City Engineering and each department involved carefully reviewed and vetted each design phase, and the design team used the comments as a basis for subsequent design phases.”

In April, the MMB earned two other awards for the restoration, renovation work.

The MMB is a designated local City of Madison Landmark and is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was originally built from 1927 to 1929.

In 2014, the City of Madison Common Council affirmed through resolution that keeping the MMB in civic use would help achieve the City’s desire to maintain a nexus of City offices together. It took four years to complete the planning, design, restoration, and renovation. The MMB also met Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirements and is targeted for a LEED Gold rating.

During the restoration, the following was completed: