City of Evanston, Robert Crown Community Center
GBA provided comissioning services for this multi-purpose recreational facility in north suburban Chicago.
The Objective
The City of Evanston hired GBA to commission this new $53 million facility, which replaced a previous recreational building nearby. The multi-purpose facility in north suburban Chicago includes two full-sized ice rinks; a branch of the Evanston Public Library; a gym with retractable bleachers and two full-sized basketball courts; an indoor running track; several multipurpose rooms; and a childcare and education facility for preschool and after-school program. Commissioning scope included design-phase through occupancy- and warranty-phase tasks.
The Response
The new Crown Center is a pivotal addition to the City of Evanston’s public buildings. The complexity of the program for this 130,000-square-foot building made commissioning challenging and required efforts beyond typical scope for a suburban recreational facility.
- Commissioned equipment included three air-handling units, four rooftop units (including both VAV and constant-volume units), a heating hot water system, a glycol hot water loop, the HVAC chilled water system, unit heaters and force flow units, VAV and fan-powered boxes, exhaust fans, radiant flooring, domestic hot water, and emergency power/generators.
- Nearly 70 items were identified through design-phase reviews, and more than 200 items were identified through construction-phase commissioning, including more than 30 field observation reports, 80 pre-functional checklists, and 21 functional performance tests. Most issues were quickly resolved once identified.
- Seasonal testing was conducted during spring after occupancy since the majority of the commissioning work was completed during the winter season. GBA also trained facility personnel on commissioned equipment, system design intent, and important operations and maintenance principles.
- LEED Silver certification was achieved.
Identified and addressed glycol blockages that caused warm spots in ice rinks
Corrected sensor problems that affected multiple system operations
Remedied a building pressure sensor wrongly piped to a supply duct
Resolved control issues with domestic water circulation pumps
Optimized custom desiccant AHU to better align with the building profile
