Bentley University Arena Attains LEED Platinum Sustainable Design Certification

Bentley University has been awarded LEED Platinum sustainable design certification for the $45 million Bentley Arena in Waltham, Mass. Designed by Architectural Resources Cambridge, the 76,000-sf project is the only standalone ice arena in the nation to have attained LEED Platinum. The multipurpose facility includes a glass-walled function room, a sports medicine center, state-of-the-art locker rooms, strength and conditioning suites, and a student-run media control room. The arena features LED lighting with motion sensors and a 504-kilowatt rooftop photovoltaic array with 1,400 panels that can supply 40 percent of the structure’s annual electrical consumption. Heat is captured from the equipment that produces the ice and used to heat water throughout the facility, which features highly efficient plumbing fixtures. The project, which opened in February of 2018, was built by Suffolk Construction with Thornton Tomasetti as LEED consultant. The solar array was developed by Rivermoor Energy.