LOCAL 162 ROOFERS AND WATERPROOFERS TACKLE Las Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium With Skill Photos by Eberhard Southwest
A
llegiant Stadium is the brand-new, 1.8 millionsquare-foot home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) college football team. The 65,000-seat facility—which includes a retractable field, large operable walls that open to views of the Las Vegas Strip, and a translucent roof—required more than 6 million labor hours to complete. This project was covered by a project labor agreement (PLA), so it was built by all union labor. There were no labor issues on this project. The project began as a concept for converting a dirt lot off the Las Vegas Strip into a modern, high-tech mega stadium. The contractor, Mortensen, had been involved with many such stadiums across the country; however, their choice to team up with local general contractor McCarthy allowed them to reach the best local subcontracting talent available, and Roofers & Waterproofers Local 162 signatory contractor Eberhard Southwest Roofing was awarded the multi-million dollar contract for all waterproofing and roofing.
Experts Called in for Extensive Waterproofing The first part of the waterproofing work is so far underground, it will never be seen again. It had to be a first-class installation, done right the first time. Eberhard Southwest provided the best in waterproofing mechanics, who were able to
2
• The Journeyman Roofer & Waterproofer
The retractable field tray can be positioned inside or outside the stadium and supports both natural grass and artificial turf playing surfaces.
overcome the challenges of working deep in a massive hole dug for all of the footings and foundation work to be done. Wind, dust, cranes the size of skyscrapers, trucks and people were so numerous that safety had to be everyone’s first priority. The below-grade walls are some 30’ down from grade level. Waterproofing of these walls was done as the building sections were completed, using Bituthene sheet membrane from GCP. Next came the horizontal waterproofing with American Hydrotech Monolithic Membrane 6125 hot rubber membrane. Not only were plaza decks and pedestrian walkways done, but Local 162 members installed waterproofing over the entire playing field, about 85,000 square feet. The field is built on a movable “tray” that rolls on steel tracks, which allows the natural grass field to move outdoors for
sunlight and water. This feature provides the stadium with the versatility of using both natural grass (for NFL) and artificial turf (for UNLV) playing surfaces.
Up to the Roof Standing 170’ above the Las Vegas skyline, Eberhard Southwest Roofers installed 325,000 square feet of new roofing. This required loading 96 semi-truck loads of roof material, for a total of 1,384 crane lifts from a
