Background
Hodges Stadium at the University of North Florida is a 1999 precast concrete 9,400 seat stadium consisting of 4 levels totaling 135,000 square feet of building area. The stadium is primarily precast columns, beams, hollowcore floor planks, raker beams and “L” shaped “Tread Risers” that form the seating areas. Cast-in-place concrete is primarily used for stair treads, curbs and floor topping over the precast hollowcore slabs.
The 4 stadium levels are:
- an on grade level housing occupied space for weight training, locker rooms and medical care.
- a concourse level designed for future occupied food vendor space.
- a concourse level providing access to both upper and lower seating.
- a skybox level above the upper seating.
Assessment
The Hodges Stadium was in good structural condition but was experiencing extensive leaking throughout that was exacerbated by floor slope issues and ponding. Some handrail anchorage issues also existed. Walker was engaged in February of 2016 to define the causes and responses to these concerns.
Recommendations & Repairs
Based on these conditions, Walker recommend a 3-year repair program to replace or repair sealants as well as waterproofing membranes, install supplemental drains and repair handrail post deterioration. The repair program focused on completing all repairs within a required area at the same time, and repairing the worst leaking areas first while prioritizing protecting occupied spaces.
Required repairs to the waterproofing systems will include tread riser sealants and expansion joints, concourse membrane and expansion joints and to address exterior ponding both supplemental drains and floor slope re-profiling
Required railing post repairs will occur to exterior concourse railing, perimeter fencing and stairs.
While on-site, Walker observed several conditions required immediate responses and worked with UNF staff to address these issues the same day as they were identified to protect users.
Outcome
UNF staff stated they, “found the report to be crisp and it clearly identified the deficiencies and corrective recommendations.” which allowed UNF to move forward with a planned approach to lowering the total cost of ownership while extending the life of this important asset.