CU goes green with its new basketball and volleyball practice facility

CU recently opened their brand new Basketball and Volleyball Practice Facility. The $10.8 million project took one year to build and is attached to the north side of the existing Coors Events Center.

The building is exceptionally helpful to the athletics program due to the fact that it allows the men’s basketball team, the women’s basketball team, and the women’s volleyball team to all practice at the same time.

The facility is one of the most environmentally friendly buildings ever built. It qualified for the LEED Gold standard for sustainability and has a chance to qualify for the platinum level. Only 30 buildings in the country have qualified for the platinum level for LEED.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a standard set by the United States Green Building Council. All of CU’s recently built buildings have qualified for the Gold standard. Its three newest buildings- the new residence hall in Williams Village, the Physics building addition, and the basketball/volleyball facility- also have a chance at earning the platinum level.

CU’s Director of Sustainability Moe Tabrizi is the leader in the efforts to get these buildings recognized. LEED’s qualifications take into account six qualities of environmentally friendly buildings: sustainable site, water efficiency, energy use, materials for construction, indoor environmental quality, and innovation in design.

The facility uses multiple water conservation techniques including harvesting rain to water the front lawn and recycling used drinking water for toilets. It was built in an environmentally friendly way using locally made materials, and its heating and air conditioning use is scheduled using an organized timing system to match the teams practicing in the building.

Along with the sustainability features the building is expected to increase recruiting as well help the teams win more games in their new conference.