1999 ACE AWARDS

CATEGORY #9

Project Of The Year (Over $6 Million)

Subcontractor

PROJECT

Pepsi Center Arena

OWNER

Ascent Arena Company, LLC.

GENERAL CONTRACTOR

M.A. Mortenson Company

ARCHITECT

Hok Sports Facility Group

ENGINEER

ME Engineers Inc.

SUBMITTED BY

Ludvik Electric Co.

A Winner In The Construction Game

Slam dunk! Drop the puck! Light up the stage! Bring on the elephants! The Pepsi Center—Denver's showpiece entertainment venue and one of the premier sports arenas in the nation—is ready for action. The imposing, high profile structure instantly became a landmark in the Central Platte Valley, gateway to downtown Denver. It is the new home for the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, and a total of as many as 200 events each year ranging from concerts to circuses to family shows. The 675,000-square-foot, 7-level, round structure contains the sports/entertainment arena with seating for up to 20,100 people, a 150,000-square-foot office building, a 64,000-square-foot restaurant/specialty retail complex, a 5,000-square-foot convenience store/gas station, a full size NBA practice court, state-of-the-art locker rooms, and cutting edge sound and lighting systems. Pepsi Center sits on a fully landscaped, 52-acre site with parking and elaborate site lighting. The arena itself has a 4.6-acre footprint.

When the lights go on, Pepsi Center will be flooded with 20,000 amps of electrical power. That's enough to supply a town of 3,500 for a year—a total of 16.6 million watts (276,666 60-watt bulbs). Ludvik Electric was honored to be "the electrical contractor of choice" and part of the team that took the facility from a lofty vision to a spectacular reality. But Pepsi Center was not your run-of-the-mill project.

The project began with an extensive MEP coordination effort resulting in effective composite working drawings. Ludvik's fast-track electrical installation included four 4000 amp services, one for each of the four building quadrants, and two 1500 kW emergency generators. The Sports and House Lighting System is fully microprocessor controlled with multi-tasking capability that allows lighting to be preset for events throughout the year. Approximately 120 miles of conduit and 569 miles of wire were installed, as well as 280 panelboards and 13,000 fixtures. Also included was a sophisticated card-access security system with CCTV monitoring, state-of-the-art locker rooms with medical/therapy centers and video conferencing, a multimedia production studio, press and media facilities, 17 concession stands, 41 public restrooms, 95 luxury suites on two levels, and a 60,000-pound 4-sided scoreboard—all in a stadium measuring 132' from the event surface to the ceiling, the equivalent of a 10-story building. In addition to the usual problems of "round" building construction, it's obvious just from the scope of the job that the highly specialized complex tossed a series of challenges Ludvik's way.

Coordination—Various systems and structural components required that Ludvik work closely with other subcontractors—concrete, steel, sound, computer, mechanical, media, etc. To insure timely coordination of all electrical installations with other trades and limit conflicts, Ludvik placed special emphasis on the availability of accurate, up-to-date shop drawings on site. Layout drawings were updated weekly and matched with work of other trades, especially relevant considering 28% of the electrical work was affected by over 500 changes and additions necessary to maintain the facility's state-of-the-art status. This ongoing effort enabled Ludvik to work efficiently with other subs throughout the project and implement many innovative techniques that resulted in a quality installation and a safer work environment.

Precast & Conduit—Precast concrete was used extensively in many areas, including seat risers and the exterior facade. Ludvik had full-time crews at both the job site and at the precast company to pre-fab conduit runs in conjunction with the manufacture of concrete components. This kept much of the conduit hidden from sight, meeting a design requirement for aesthetics and expediency.

Angles & Arcs—The curved walls, seating areas and other arcs and angles in a round building always make electrical layout and rough in difficult. Ludvik used AutoCad software to mitigate the problem. Using grid lines and columns as reference points and adding the information to drawings, laser technology was employed to easily and precisely pinpoint locations for conduit runs, stub-ups, lights, panels, sleeves and electrical devices throughout the building.

Trusses & Catwalks—The ceiling of the arena required that a significant amount of electrical work be executed 132' above the floor. The first problem was interviewing and identifying electricians who didn't suffer from "high anxiety." Once that obstacle was overcome, Ludvik was able to reduce both the difficulty and the safety hazards of an installation at this height through imagination and cooperation. The arena's catwalk and truss structure presented an opportunity for thinking outside of the box. Working closely with the steel subcontractor, Ludvik installed conduit on trusses after they were lifted off the floor but before they were raised to the ceiling. A short conduit span at the truss-to-structure connection point was all that needed to be accomplished at the 132-foot elevation. This reduced the safety risk and raised the installation efficiency so pulling of wire and cable could occur earlier in the project through innovative teamwork. Once the catwalks were in place, remaining conduit, cable tray, switchboards, transformers, sports lights, house lights and other electrical work could be accomplished in a far safer environment. Ludvik provided the steel subcontractor with all locations and weights by lineal footage or piece of electrical equipment for structural calculations to be completed. That's true teamwork!

Light Work—Actually, heavy light work. The 268 Sterner Sports Lights in the arena weigh 130 pounds each for a single unit and 220 pounds for a double unit. Each features a unique luminaire shutter system to provide ideal lighting for sports or entertainment events. To install these fixtures, Ludvik rigged a hoisting system fastened to guardrails and structural cross members, allowing the light fixtures to be hoisted from the catwalk staging platform into the permanent mounting position, again addressing efficiency and safety.

More On Safety—In addition to extreme heights, other factors that put special emphasis on safety included colorless, odorless machinery fumes that could build up in the dome, the concentration of trades, the schedule duration, and use of large equipment. Each new Ludvik worker attended two orientations prior to starting work. Fall protection, lift training, special hazard recognition and other safety issues were discussed at weekly safety meetings. A weekly safety audit was conducted by Ludvik's Safety Director. Ludvik's crew of 124 workers at the peak, plus two electrical subcontractors working under Ludvik's direction spent 185,000 man-hours over 18 months at Pepsi Center with zero lost time due to accident or injury.

With a well-conceived game plan in place, this team executed to perfection. Pepsi Center is a winner.