As blogged on AccuWeather.com, when the stakeholders involved in the construction of Mercedes-Benz Stadium (MBS) came up with the initial conception of the venue, they knew they wanted a state-of-art-facility not only for sporting events, but for the environment as well.

The stadium, home to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United FC, opened in August 2017 as North America’s first LEED platinum venue.

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the most widely used green building rating system in the world, according to the U.S. Green Building Council (USBGC). 

According to the USBGC’s LEED rating system, MBS accumulated 88 out of a maximum 100 points on the rating system, the highest ever for a sports venue.

A significant component of the facility’s sustainability initiatives include water conservation, with a focus on reducing the amount of flooding in its neighborhood in northwestern Atlanta.

The stadium has a capacity to store over 2 million gallons of storm water on site. The facility is equipped with a 680,000-gallon cistern for rainwater recapture and reuse, which goes towards landscape irrigation and the site’s cooling tower. 

“What’s most important about the storm water being in the heart of Atlanta is it’s doing our part to mitigate flood potentials in the neighborhood just to the west of us here,” Mercedes-Benz Stadium General Manager Scott Jenkins said.

“LEED matters because when you build such an iconic piece of architecture, it’s also a way to lead environmentally and make it environmentally responsible and friendly,” he said.

The stadium is located at the top of the Proctor Creek Watershed, historically known for flooding during heavy rain events. As they came up with the innovative design, Falcons officials, along with the architectural firm HOK, made it a point that helping to reduce the amount of flooding would be a key component of this massive structure.

Keep reading on AccuWeather.com

 

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