Sustainable Design

  • Storrs, CT, USA
  • Completion: 2006
  • Awards: First LEED Silver collegiate athletic facility in the country
  • Download Fact Sheet

Sustainable Attributes

  • Energy efficiency
  • Use of infrared heating
  • Daylighting
  • Recycled, local materials
  • Drought-tolerant landscaping
  • Incorporation of rain gardens and bioretention swales

The multi-purpose Burton Family Football Complex/The Mark R. Shenkman Training Center offers everything student athletes need to excel, all under one roof. With their stadium more than 30 miles from campus, the Husky football team now will be able to train, condition, practice, study, eat and relax in a state-of-the-art environment close to campus. The project features an indoor practice facility with a 120-yard long synthetic playing surface, an 18,000 square foot strength and conditioning area, state-of-the-art video capabilities, large locker rooms, a strength training facility, coaches' offices and team meeting rooms.

The training facility has set the stage for sustainable design at UConn. As the first building on campus to achieve LEED Certification, the training facility serves as a model to all future new construction projects on campus. The effort to achieve LEED Certification was less than one percent of the overall project budget, and sustainable design elements will pay for themselves in five to 10 years.

More than three dozen construction components promote environmental sustainability, from site selection to building design and selection of materials, energy and water conservation and indoor environmental quality.

Site
Situated in a valley bordering other campus sports facilities, the football training facility was designed to resemble an eroded piece of stone within the valley’s stream. 7,000 cubic feet of peat excavated from the site helped to restore and create wetlands. Additionally, permeable pavement and bioretention swales around the facility help cleanse storm water and reduce runoff. More than 50 percent of the site was preserved as open space, and a lush grass/light concrete entry reduces the heat island effect.

Materials
During the construction process, 89 percent of construction debris was recycled; 30 percent of the building was made from recycled content; and 45 to 90 percent of structural steel, roofs, decks and stairs were made from recycled content.

Energy
The building is projected to have a 35 percent energy savings beyond ASHRAE guidelines, saving the university $35,000 - $40,000 a year on energy costs. Natural daylighting reaches 90 percent of occupied spaces in the training facility. Additionally, automatic shut-off lighting and infrared heating units are used as more efficient means of lighting and heating the building. An improved building envelope with higher insulation levels and smart window glazing not only offers enhanced natural light but also reduces solar heat gain and lowers building heat loss.

Water
The training facility is estimated to reach 35 percent water savings over Energy Policy Act standards through low flow shower heads, urinals and faucets; dual-flush toilets; and water efficient laundry machines.