Preserving a National Treasure

Built in 1923 , UC Berkeley’s Cal Memorial Stadium straddles the Hayward Fault, with tectonic movement essentially running from one end zone to the other. Cal began planning for a seismic retrofit of the venue in 2005 — by 2012, the college had raised $321 million in renovation funding. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Cal was determined to preserve the existing façade of the stadium while the west side seating and concessions were replaced. This is exactly the kind of work Sunbelt Controls does well: delivering innovative and integrated solutions while still meeting the dynamic needs of our customers.

WHAT SUNBELT CONTROLS DELIVERED

We faced a very aggressive schedule and an existing site that required a complete system replacement of the old out of date control system, but we were ready to tackle the project. Sunbelt Controls’ project managers, engineers and field technicians, along with the design and construction teams, all shared a common goal: the stadium would be open for the school’s first football game of the season. We met budget and schedule targets while also fulfilling expectations to deliver a state of the art, fully dynamic building controls system. This system is capable of functioning on multiple OS platforms and controllable with one license across unlimited computers, including portable tablet devices.

After 20 months of renovations, Cal Memorial Stadium was reopened for the Golden Bears’ first football game of the season. This was one of the most unique seismic retrofit projects we have been a part of and we are proud to have helped preserve this historic venue.

Project Details

Owner: University of California, Berkeley

Customer Segment: Higher Ed. / Universities, Sport / Athletics

Project Type: Controls

Architect: HNTB

General Contractor: Webcor Builders

Mechanical Engineer: WSP F & K

Mechanical Contractor: ACCO Engineered Systems

Controls Contractor: Sunbelt Controls