AMSOIL Arena Earns LEED Certification

The University of Minnesota-Duluth’s AMSOIL Arena, which was part of the 2010 expansion to the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC), recently achieved the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEEDÒ Silver Certification. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. AMSOIL Arena is the ninth Populous design to achieve some level of LEED Certification.

AMSOIL Arena is a modern, flexible addition to the existing Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. It was designed primarily to accommodate the nationally renowned men’s and women’s ice hockey programs at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The arena seats nearly 7,000 for hockey and features state-of-the-art locker rooms, team rooms, video classrooms, strength training and athletic medicine facilities. And because it is linked directly to the existing convention center, the arena offers an additional 20,000 square feet of space for exhibitions and trade shows.

“It is the goal of Populous to be environmentally conscious on all our projects,” said Jim Swords, Populous Principal. “To achieve sustainability at a LEED Silver level takes a team effort from everyone involved. The owner, architects, engineers and contractors all need to work together toward this goal. This certainly was the case with AMSOIL Arena.”

AMSOIL Arena maximizes energy efficiencies, recycling programs, use of recycled materials and many other green aspects, including the use of local, renewable resources throughout the facility. Sustainable site selection and development resulted in a proximity to local amenities and dense urban development, making it a prime sustainable site due to the existing civic infrastructure and access to public transportation. Water efficiency measures were implemented, resulting in a 42 percent water use reduction throughout the facility. AMSOIL Arena operations staff also use the facility as an educational tool, teaching the general public about the sports and entertainments arena’s sustainable features. These are only a few of the sustainable aspects that earned AMSOIL Arena LEED Silver Certification.

“One of the reasons Populous was selected to design AMSOIL Arena was our shared vision of an environmentally friendly facility,” said Dan Russell, AMSOIL’s Executive Director. “The result was not only LEED recognition, but an Arena that uses over 50 percent less energy than similar facilities.”

Notable Populous sustainability recognitions include:

• CONSOL Energy Center, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL team, was the first NHL arena to achieve LEED Gold Certification
• The Burton Family Football Complex/Mark R. Shenkman Training Center at the University of Connecticut was the first collegiate athletic facility in the United States to achieve LEED Silver certification.
• Nationals Park in Washington D.C. was the first professional sports facility to achieve LEED Silver certification.
• TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota is the first LEED Silver collegiate football stadium in the U.S.
• Amway Center, home of the Orlando Magic, is the first LEED Gold NBA Arena

For further information please contact:
media@populous.com