SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Swinerton has completed construction of the Great Park Ice and Fivepoint Arena in Irvine, California. Located in Orange County Great Park, the ice complex is the county’s first ice rink in 20 years and will house four rinks — three National Hockey League (NHL) rinks and one Olympic-sized rink. It will serve as the new training facility for the Anaheim Ducks NHL team, as well as Olympic figure skating training. It will also provide the public with new opportunities to learn and excel at ice sports. At 270,000 square feet, the Great Park Ice complex is not only the largest in the state of California, but one of the largest in the country.

The complex features a composition of two pre-engineered metal buildings (PEMB) and one conventional building, allowing it to move flexibly in a seismic event and provide higher resistance to seismic tremors. PEMBs have the ability to withstand seismic movement of up to 10 inches, while conventional buildings withstand two inches. Additionally, PEMB offers a cost-efficient alternative to conventional building design in commercial applications.

While most PEMBs are stand-alone structures, the Great Park Ice center marries two PEMBs with a conventional building in between. The complex design required Swinerton to construct it with an undetectable space between the three buildings to allow for potential seismic movement.

“It has been such a privilege to work on this project,” said Nick Thomas, Senior Superintendent, Swinerton. “The entire Swinerton team is thrilled to contribute such an innovative project to Orange County to fill an unmet need for a community ice complex. We know it will bring great joy to the residents of Orange County for many years to come.”

The main arena at Great Park Ice will hold 2,500 individuals and will provide space to host a variety of sporting and entertainment events. It will feature a sports bar, party rooms, classrooms and outdoor public spaces and amenities. The other side of the building will hold three ice rinks with a capacity of 500 people. One rink will be used for Olympic figure skating training; the other two will be available for a variety of public ice-related sports, filling a county-wide need for ice sports activities including youth and adult hockey programs, figure skating, regional and national tournaments and competitions, as well as open public recreational skating. The middle, conventional building will hold the facility’s lobby, the Duck’s training center and offices.

Construction on the comprehensive LEED Silver facility began in October 2017. Swinerton hired Rink-Tec, a rink building specialist based in Minnesota, for its expertise in building professional skating facilities, which contributed to the completion of the project on schedule.