Home to the San Francisco 49ers and the world’s premier outdoor sports and entertainment events, the new airy Levi’s Stadium in the Silicon Valley opened its gates to lucky fans in 2014. Environmentally friendly, technologically equipped, and beautifully designed, this place sought to exceed all expectations for a sports facility.

Supporting the owner and design team’s sustainable building goals, Glumac’s commissioning agents conducted the LEED and Enhanced Commissioning for this 1.85 million square feet facility (seating capacity of 68,500, 165 luxury suites, and 8,500 club seats). Levi’s Stadium is currently the largest facility certified by the USGBC and the first NFL stadium certified LEED Gold for New Construction in the US.

To reach energy-efficiency goals, the Glumac building commissioning agents monitored energy use and continuously tuned the systems. We also developed a comprehensive measurement and verification plan to help building operators monitor the energy use and realize the continuous benefit of lower energy use for the lifetime of the facility.

Sustainable Building Features

• 27,000-square-foot green roof
• 20,000-square-foot of solar panels
• Mechanical systems consisted of a condenser water system with four cooling towers, heat exchangers and associated pumps
• Over 45 air handlers, 100 exhaust fans, 80 water source heat pumps and over 450 variable air volume boxes
• Energy efficient lighting systems have a lighting controls system, a daylight harvesting controls system and an occupancy sensor controls system
• Low-flow plumbing fixtures with reclaimed water system for the field and green roof irrigation
• Domestic water system is comprised of two boilers, two 4,000 gallon storage tanks, booster pumps, water softening system, and numerous electric instantaneous water heaters
• Other features such as a carbon monoxide detection system, sewage ejector pumps, and all encompassing building automation system make this stadium the model for all stadium that aspire to be sustainable

Size: 1.85 million sf
Completion Date: 2014 / again in 2023
Construction Cost: $1.18 billion
Architect: Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff California Architects, P.C..
Contractor: Turner Construction & Devcon Construction
Services: Commissioning

Image courtesy of Matthew Roth