EDDIE IZZARD

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
MetLife Stadium in New
Jersey, US has achieved cost
savings of around US$23.5m
through green practices
Sports venues will become the
focal points of eco-districts
where resources are shared
among facilities. Excess heat
from an arena will be used
to heat water in a nearby hotel
With more than 300 members consisting
of teams, facilities, leagues and universities
from 14 countries, the Green Sports
Alliance is already making a difference in
developing and sharing best practice in
sustainability. In November, the Alliance
launched the Corporate Membership
Network, which is engaging corporate
partners to learn from each other and
accelerate the pace of integrating
sustainability into their facilities.
The Alliance hosted a Climate and
Sports presentation as part of the United
Nations Conference of Parties’ (COP21)
international climate negotiations, which
took place in Paris from 28 November
through to 11 December.
The panel, which was attended by
representatives of European sports
organisations, NGOs, government
officials and the public, highlighted the
opportunities sustainability in sports offers
to the wider climate change effort.
About the author:
Chris DeVolder, LEED AP, is the sustainable
design leader for HOK’s Sports +
Recreation + Entertainment practice
THE FUTURE OF SUSTAINABILITY
What will the sustainable stadiums and arenas of the next 10 years look like?
Design strategies for the highperformance
sports venues of the
future will be based on these ideas:
Abundance, not scarcity, is the lens
for all design decisions. The venue
harvests water, creates energy,
turns waste into food, enhances
the habitat and adds value for
the surrounding community and
the owner. Decisions support the
common good of the community,
not just a standalone project.
Projects feature mixed-use
programming that creates an
active, engaging venue seven days
a week. The space synergies include
sports, recreation, entertainment,
transportation, food, healthcare,
retail, hospitality, conferencing, urban
farming, housing and education.
The design creates multiple solutions.
A canopy that provides shade for daily
activities and game-day parking, for
example, has a roof structure with solar
panels that generate energy for the
building and cars parked beneath.
The canopy also directs rainwater
into cisterns for reuse in the building,
site and community. The venue is the
focal point of an eco-district, where
resources are shared among facilities.
Excess heat from equipment
in an arena, for example, is used to
heat water at an adjacent hotel.
The venue serves as an anchor for
a co-op approach to the purchase of
sustainable goods and services. It may
bring together a ballpark, local school
district, hospital system and retail centre,
for example, to pool the buying power
for green products, renewable energy,
commercial composting and local food.
Biomimicry influences how the
design responds to the local climate,
allowing the building to breathe, provide
comfort for every human sense and
adapt to year-round requirements.
The site’s biodiversity is enhanced
through local or adaptive landscaping,
edibles and the tree canopy.
The venue generates all its own energy
through solar panels, wind turbines or
other renewable energy solutions.
Future venues will be net positive
when it comes to stormwater,
accepting more water than they create,
cleaning it naturally and reusing it.
With its mass appeal and ability to unite people worldwide, sport offers a powerful
platform for demonstrating and communicating the importance of sustainability.
By establishing new paradigms for environmentally friendly design and
acting as a hub for related sustainable development, sports venues can
become critical assets for an individual location, a community and a region.
52 sportsmanagement.co.uk issue 4 2015 © Cybertrek 2015