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Hagemeyer North America Donates Sustainable Lighting to SC Historical Society

10/7/2009
Hagemeyer NA, Philips Lighting, Philips Advance, and Veolia partner on donation.
 

CHARLESTON, SC; October 5, 2009 – Hagemeyer North America (HNA), with the support of three of their key supplier partners, donated more than $12,000 worth of products and services in an energy-efficient lighting redesign project for the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston, South Carolina.  
“Our company has been headquartered in Charleston since 1865 so you could say that we’ve been long-time neighbors with the Historical Society,” says Dave Gabriel, Hagemeyer North America CEO. “At Hagemeyer we strive to be a more responsible, eco-friendly business and we take our sustainability commitment very seriously. That commitment includes supporting businesses in their sustainability endeavors. So, we were happy to aid and facilitate the Historical Society’s desire to create a more sustainable environment at their facility.”
 
 
The South Carolina Historical Society is housed in the historic Robert Mills Fireproof Building located at 100 Meeting Street in Charleston, South Carolina. Native South Carolinian Robert Mills was the first professionally trained architect born in America, federal architect under President Andrew Jackson, and designer of many important buildings in Washington, D.C., including the Washington Monument. Mills designed the Fireproof Building in 1822 as a state office building with secure storage for local public records; it was the first fireproof structure in the nation built specifically to protect documents. The three-story Fireproof Building was named a National Historic Landmark in 1973. Although major renovations to the interior and exterior of the structure were completed in 2002, the lighting throughout had not been updated for decades.
 
“We told Hagemeyer North America that we wanted to accomplish three objectives from our lighting upgrade,” says South Carolina Historical Society Board Manager Richard Hutson. “We wanted aesthetically pleasing fixtures that provided brighter, enhanced lighting for the comfort of our patrons and members; longer life bulbs to avoid time-consuming and sometimes precarious bulb changes; and, most importantly, energy efficiency solutions for reduced costs and for the good of our environment. After Hagemeyer’s lighting audit of the entire building, we were very pleased that their recommendations that met all of our needs. Then, we were excited and grateful to learn that the products and services were going to be donated by Hagemeyer and three of their suppliers.”
 
Hagemeyer North America’s Manager of Sustainable Solutions Melanie Hardy, Product Manager Thomas McCants, and Account Representative Dan Hardy worked on the SC Historical Society project. Soliciting the support of three strategic vendor partners – Philips Lighting, Philips Advance, and Veolia – they were able to provide the lighting audit, products, and recycle services, a $12,000 value, free of charge.
 
“We have world-class vendors with whom we’ve established strong partnerships,” says Hagemeyer’s Dan Hardy. “Philips and Veolia worked very closely with us on this ‘green’ project. It was a great team effort by all to support this historical organization.”
 
“You have no idea how much our records can aid historians as they recreate economic trends and business relationships,” says Faye Jensen, Executive Director of the South Carolina Historical Society, explaining the organization’s preservation of records of local businesses. In fact, the early papers of Cameron & Barkley, acquired by Hagemeyer North America in 2000, are maintained by the Society.
 
“With regards to the lighting project,” says Jensen, “it demonstrates tremendous teamwork and we are delighted with the donation by Hagemeyer North America. It helps us reduce energy consumption, which benefits the environment and saves the Society precious dollars that are needed for operations. We hope this partnership with Hagemeyer will inspire other Charleston-based businesses to help local non-profits.”
 
Part of Hagemeyer North America’s core competency is offering sustainable solutions designed to help businesses reduce costs while being more environmentally responsible.
 
“We were so happy to help the South Carolina Historical Society in their quest to upgrade their lighting,” says Melanie Hardy, Hagemeyer’s Manager of Sustainable Development. “Their facility now features energy efficient lighting and they can take pride in knowing that their old lamps and ballasts were recycled and disposed of properly.”
 
About Hagemeyer North America
 
Hagemeyer North America, Inc. (www.hagemeyerna.com) is a distributor of products and services focusing on business-to-business markets in electrical materials, safety products, and industrial products and services throughout North America. Hagemeyer North America has annual revenues of $1.7 billion, employs approximately 4,800 associates, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sonepar, headquartered in Paris, France. Sonepar has 34,000 employees in 160 companies across 34 countries worldwide.
 
About the South Carolina Historical Society
 
In 1855 a group of South Carolina's most distinguished citizens came together to found the South Carolina Historical Society (www.southcarolinahistoricalsociety.org), to preserve South Carolina's rich historical legacy for future generations. Today the SCHS is the state's oldest and largest private repository of books, letters, journals, maps, drawings, and photographs about South Carolina history. Their mission is "to expand, preserve, and make accessible our invaluable collection, and to encourage interest and pride in the rich history of our state." The SCHS holdings are vast and grow constantly with the addition of materials from South Carolina's 300-year history. The SCHS is a private, non-profit organization depending entirely on the generosity of its members to preserve and extend awareness of South Carolina history. They receive no local, state, or federal funding for their operations.
  
For more information contact:
 
Shannon Bennett
Director, Communications
Phone: 843-745-1845
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