New Football Performance Center

IMEG provided mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection engineering design and services, along with energy modeling, for a new, LEED Silver Football Performance Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The state-of-the-art facility will help recruit, train, and care for today’s and future student athletes at the university. The building is connected to the existing Indoor Practice Facility and is located adjacent to the historic Memorial Stadium.

The building’s first level houses spaces for sports medicine, trainer offices, hydro-therapy, a DEXA scan room, cast fabrication, x-ray room, player grooming and showers, nutrition and nutrition prep spaces, football locker room, player gaming area, bowling, field fueling, high-density storage, weight room, main lobby, and support spaces.

The second floor houses football offices, male and female coaches locker rooms, WAR room, player recovery lounge, player position rooms, auditorium, recruiting lounge, football lobby, NFL locker room, NFL press room, NFL locker room, and support spaces.

Engineers provided MEP and fire protection design, as well as energy modeling for the new Football Performance Center. IMEG also provided design for specialty lighting and coordinated with the A/V consultant for the many video boards throughout the facility.

The project is projected to achieve total energy savings of 20.2 percent and water savings of 40 percent as compared to baseline goals. In addition to water-saving fixtures, the building’s sustainable features include energy recovery wheels in the dedicated outdoor air unit, and a plate frame heat exchanger for the hydro-therapy unit that also included demand control ventilation in the form of an outdoor air box for each zone on Level 1. Demand control ventilation is also utilized for two other AHUs.

One unique challenge of the design was the steam, condensate, domestic water, and storm mains that entered and served the adjacent Indoor Practice Facility were below the proposed building site for the Football Performance Center. The new facility’s steam service was located in the existing indoor practice facility and sized to serve both buildings so the design could be phased, and the existing steam service removed.

Re-routing of the domestic water and fire protection services was also required.