Caesars Forum Convention Center, constructed by The PENTA Building Group, is a 550,000 square-foot LEED Gold Certified conference facility. The $365 million conference center sits on 24.5 acres and is the first facility of its size built on one level. It includes the two largest pillar-less ballrooms in North America—each at 110,000 square feet with 315-foot clear span trusses. Additionally, the facility includes more than 300,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, two 40,000-square-foot ballrooms, six state-of-the-art boardrooms, 100,000 square feet of multipurpose outdoor space known as The FORUM Plaza and three pedestrian bridges.
Noteworthy facts about construction
• 40,000 CY of concrete used
• 12,900 tons of structural steel used
• 748 prefabricated 8 foot-by-30 foot exterior wall panels installed
• Approximately 10,000 tons of steel used, including the largest spanning steel truss in North America at 315-foot span and 22 feet deep
• Manpower at peak was about 600 construction workers
• 200,000 square feet of EIFS used
• 73,000 square feet of metal panels installed
• 25,000 square feet of exterior glazing used
• Recycled 16,655 tons of asphalt concrete
• Approximately 94% of the project’s waste was recycled and diverted from the landfill
Caesars Forum had an incredibly aggressive construction deadline. The 18-month project was accelerated to 15 months due to a six-month permitting delay. To accommodate the expedited timeline, PENTA conducted work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This required constant communication with the client and subcontractors to coordinate schedules and ensure tasks were completed safely and as efficiently as possible. The forum can hold the equivalent of seven football fields. The sheer massiveness of the project required a safety program of the same scale. Having a robust program was PENTA’s top priority from Day One. The strict compliance to these high-level safety standards resulted in just six recordable incidents, with zero lost time. The project was completed on budget and ahead of schedule.
With the goal of a LEED Silver rating, the design of the building’s mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems—in addition to equipment and material selections—were favorable to efficiency and environmentally conscious products. Material selections included those with low VOC emissions, locally sourced materials and LEED-certified products. On the construction side, PENTA implemented a waste management program to recycle construction waste generated on-site, reuse asphalt materials removed during demolition and recycle steel materials demolished for bridge construction. Additionally, an indoor air-quality management program was implemented to monitor and minimize construction activities from impacting air quality during construction and protect HVAC ductwork from construction dust. PENTA was able to obtain the point requirements for LEED Silver and acquired additional points in other areas, such as providing a complete air flush of the HVAC system over a specified amount of time. These additional points allowed PENTA to ultimately achieve a LEED Gold rating for the project.