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Key takeaways:
- Permits come from each municipality, or from PA DLI and third-party agencies in 10 opt-out towns.
- Former production buildings in New Kensington and near New Stanton are being refitted for tenants.
- About one in five county homes dates to 1939 or earlier.
Scanning across Westmoreland County's 1,036 square miles
Westmoreland County runs from the Kiskiminetas and Conemaugh rivers on the north to Jacobs Creek on the south, with the Youghiogheny and Allegheny rivers on its western edge and Laurel Hill to the east. Inside those lines are 6 cities, 35 boroughs, 21 townships and 3 home rule municipalities, and each one makes its own choice about how building codes are enforced.
Typical county projects
- Reuse of the New Kensington Advanced Manufacturing Park
- Tenant fit-outs at the RIDC Westmoreland Innovation Center
- Facade and floor plan records in Vandergrift, Ligonier and Scottdale
City of Greensburg projects are covered on our Greensburg 3D laser scanning page. For the rest of the county, send us the address.
Older housing and commercial stock
Census estimates for 2020 to 2024 count 168,812 housing units in the county. Of those, 33,492 were built in 1939 or earlier and 41,534 between 1940 and 1959; the median year built is 1964. Buildings that old have usually been altered several times, which is why record drawings and as-builts so often disagree.
Deliverables matched to county projects
- Registered point clouds for plant floors, high-bay warehouses and hillside sites.
- A Scottdale storefront or church usually needs 2D CAD plans, elevations and sections.
- Large reuse projects in New Kensington are better served by Revit models that several disciplines share.
- 360° virtual tours let prospective tenants walk vacant floor space remotely.
Vandergrift Historic District
Apollo Iron & Steel founded Vandergrift in 1895 as a planned town, and the Olmsted firm laid out its streets. The historic district, listed on the National Register in 1995, contains 625 contributing buildings in Romanesque, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles. Brick, stone trim and rooflines that are hard to reach from a ladder can be captured from the sidewalk without touching the masonry. See historic preservation scanning.
New Kensington Advanced Manufacturing Park
On the New Kensington and Arnold line, RIDC and the Westmoreland County IDC bought a 1.2 million sq ft industrial complex, parts of it from 1892, in October 2023. Re:Build Manufacturing was running a first phase of about 100,000 sq ft by June 2024. A 2025 PA SITES grant of nearly $7 million covers upgrades to Buildings 37 and 38, and six nonviable buildings were slated for demolition.
That mix calls for measured conditions on the buildings being upgraded and an archival capture of the ones coming down, both from one mobilization. See our Western PA steel and industrial page.
RIDC Westmoreland Innovation Center and PennSTART
Near the New Stanton Turnpike exit, the RIDC Westmoreland Innovation Center covers 350 acres. Its 2.8 million sq ft main building housed Volkswagen until 1988 and Sony picture tube production from 1990 to 2010. About 1 million sq ft is now leased, including a 300,000 sq ft Siemens service center and WCCC's 73,500 sq ft Advanced Technology Center. PennSTART, an autonomous vehicle test facility with a $25 million first phase, broke ground there in December 2025.
Tenant layouts in a building this size start from the column grid, clear heights and slab elevations, plus a floor flatness analysis from the same scan.
Rostraver, Sewickley and East Huntingdon industrial sites
In spring 2026 GE Vernova bought Amcel Center Two, a Mon Valley building of more than 700,000 sq ft on Finley Road in Rostraver Township, after leasing about 150,000 sq ft of it. Chelsea Building Products is building a 228,000 sq ft facility at Commerce Crossing in Sewickley Township, and Hitachi Energy is investing in East Huntingdon and Hempfield.
On new buildings, a mid-construction scan confirms that slabs, embeds and steel match the design before the next trade covers them. See construction verification and warehouse scanning.
Plant documentation for manufacturers
Manufacturers hold several spots on the PA Department of Labor & Industry's first-quarter 2026 list of the county's largest employers, including Westinghouse Electric Co, Elliott Company and Philips RS North America. When a line is added, a scan of the affected bay gives process and MEP engineers the pipe, duct and steel locations they need, and clash checks against the point cloud catch conflicts before fabrication.
Site access at operating plants
Expect a safety orientation, an escort and site-specific PPE rules at an operating plant, whether it sits in Westmoreland Technology Park II in Hempfield or in a mill building along the Kiski. We plan scan positions with the plant contact so the crew stays clear of moving equipment and lockout areas; see our job site safety page.
Choosing an accuracy level
A Vandergrift facade measured for window replacement and a Rostraver warehouse slab checked for racking do not need the same tolerance, and paying for the tighter one on both wastes money. We set accuracy for each job using USIBD Level of Accuracy bands, then pick the scanner and registration method that can meet them.
Mine subsidence and older structures
On December 2, 2024, a sinkhole opened over the abandoned Marguerite Mine in Unity Township, where H.C. Frick Coke Co. last mined coal about 20 ft down in 1952. DEP then filled the site and grouted the void. Pennsylvania has at least 5,000 abandoned underground mines.
A scanner cannot see underground, but it can record walls, floors and exposed foundations on a known date so a later scan shows any movement. See deformation monitoring.
CAD drawings or a Revit model
A storefront replacement in Mount Pleasant or an addition to a Ligonier house works fine from 2D CAD plans and elevations. A multi-building reuse like New Kensington's, where structural, mechanical and process engineers share one set of geometry, is where a Revit model pays off. Compare scan-to-BIM and 2D CAD as-builts.
Hillside and ridge sites
The county sits on the hilly Allegheny Plateau, and Chestnut Ridge stands roughly 2,000 to 2,700 ft along its Blairsville to Latrobe section, where Loyalhanna Creek cuts the Loyalhanna Gap. Sloped lots, retaining walls and buildings stepped into hillsides are slow to tape. A scan records grade, walls and structure together and can be tied to state plane coordinates for the site plan.
Campuses and hospitals outside the city
Westmoreland County Community College, founded in 1970, has its main campus in a former Westinghouse facility in Youngwood, with centers in Murrysville/Export, Latrobe and New Kensington. The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg has 22 buildings on 219 acres in Hempfield Township, and Latrobe Area Hospital ranks among the county's 15 largest employers. We schedule capture around classes and patient care; see campus scanning.
Irwin, Penn Township and the Turnpike
Irwin was the western end of the original Pennsylvania Turnpike when it opened in 1940. A new SR 130 interchange is planned at milepost 63 in Penn Township, with construction scheduled from fall 2035 to summer 2038. Buyers of older commercial buildings along these corridors can use a scan as a due diligence record before closing.
Who issues building permits in Westmoreland County
The county does not issue building permits. Uniform Construction Code enforcement is municipal, and the PA DLI election list shows 55 of the 65 municipalities opted in to local enforcement, most recently Oklahoma Borough on March 26, 2025.
The other 10 have opted out: Arona, Bolivar, Donegal Borough, East Huntingdon Township, Fairfield Township, Hunker, Laurel Mountain, Smithton, South Huntingdon Township and Sutersville. There, PA DLI enforces the code for non-residential buildings and residential owners hire a certified third-party agency. Confirm status with the municipality first; this is general context, not legal advice.
County subdivision and land development review
Where a municipality has no SALDO of its own, the Westmoreland County Department of Planning and Development reviews subdivisions and land developments under the county ordinance, updated effective January 1, 2026. The office is at 40 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Suite 520, Greensburg, (724) 830-3600. Our point cloud can feed your engineer's existing-conditions sheets and be shared with your licensed surveyor.
Alle-Kiski river towns
The Kiskiminetas River passes Avonmore, Apollo, Vandergrift, Hyde Park and Leechburg before meeting the Allegheny near Freeport at Schenley. Downstream, New Kensington has two National Register districts from 1998, Downtown and Production Works. On tight downtown blocks we set up from street, alley and interior so shared walls are not missed. Across the river, see our Armstrong County page.
Ligonier, Mount Pleasant, Scottdale and West Overton
Beyond Vandergrift and New Kensington, the National Register lists these historic districts in the county:
- West Overton in East Huntingdon Township, listed in 1985
- Ligonier and Slickville (Salem Township), both 1994
- Scottdale, added in 1996
- Mount Pleasant, 1998
- Salem Crossroads in Delmont, the earliest, from 1978
Owners renovating in these districts usually need measured drawings first; our historic documentation guide explains what to ask for.
Questions from Westmoreland County owners and designers
Who issues building permits for projects in Westmoreland County?
Each municipality, not the county. PA DLI lists 55 of the county's 65 municipalities as enforcing the Uniform Construction Code locally. In the 10 opt-out municipalities, such as East Huntingdon and South Huntingdon townships, PA DLI handles non-residential buildings and residential owners hire a certified third-party agency. Check with the municipality before applying.
How far do you travel to reach Westmoreland County sites?
From our office at 119 West 10th Ave in Homestead, it is about 15 miles to Irwin, 20 to New Kensington, 24 to Monessen and 46 to Ligonier, based on free-flow routing estimates. For most county sites, travel and field capture fit in the same day.
Can you scan buildings at the New Kensington Advanced Manufacturing Park or the RIDC Westmoreland Innovation Center?
Yes. Large former production buildings suit laser scanning, which records column grids, clear heights, slab elevations and overhead utilities for fit-out design. Access goes through the property owner or tenant, and we follow each site's safety orientation, escort and PPE rules.
Can laser scanning find mine voids under a building?
No. A scanner measures visible surfaces, not the ground. Where abandoned mines are a concern, as with the 2024 Marguerite Mine sinkhole in Unity Township, a baseline scan of walls, floors and exposed foundations lets later scans show movement. Geotechnical engineers and DEP investigate below grade.
Do you document historic buildings in Vandergrift, Ligonier or Scottdale?
Yes. All three have National Register historic districts, and scanning measures facades, rooflines and interiors without fasteners or contact with historic materials. We draft CAD elevations and plans from the point cloud, or a Revit model for BIM teams, at the accuracy band the project needs.
Does this page cover projects in the City of Greensburg?
Greensburg has its own building stock and its own plan review through a contracted agency, so it has a separate page. This page covers the rest of the county, from the Alle-Kiski towns to Rostraver and Chestnut Ridge. For a city address, see our Greensburg 3D laser scanning page.
Start a Westmoreland County scanning project
CAD Construct LLC provides 3D laser scanning, as-built drawings, scan-to-BIM and 360° virtual tours across the county. Request a free quote or call (800) 967-2627.
Neighboring county pages
What to send for a county quote
- The municipality, since an opt-out township like Fairfield follows a different inspection path than an opt-in borough
- Building type and rough size, from a Scottdale storefront to a high-bay plant
- The deliverable your designer wants, plus access limits such as shift schedules or escorts
For a ballpark first, try the 3D laser scanning cost calculator.
Image credit: Westmoreland County Courthouse — photo by Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons