The Podium USA
COMMERCIAL
The Podium is a brand new, world class, 135,000-square-foot indoor multi-use sports facility in Spokane, Washington, just east of the Spokane Arena.
The general contractor on the project was Lydig Construction. When it was time to choose a roofing contractor for this high-profile project, they turned to Axiom D7.
- YEAR 2020
- SQUARE FEET 115,000
- LOCATION Spokane, WA
Challenge:
The Podium is primarily a track and field facility, and part of the appeal of the project to its future users is its central downtown location. This also presented some logistical challenges during construction, as we had 115,000 square feet of membrane to get onto the roof — without disrupting traffic.
The main bulk of the roof was to be supported by huge, 250-foot steel trusses spanning the width of a brand new indoor track. This meant in the entire structure, the plans called for almost no penetrations in the roof. We had rarely worked on an unbroken roof this big, with such limited access for our roofers or future maintenance workers. This was a concern — when the roof was done, how would we — or anyone else — be able to access it to perform maintenance?
What’s more, roofing was scheduled to be completed in the winter, and in Spokane, that means snow. Working with a TPO membrane roof — a material that needs to be applied absolutely dry — we’d have to be creative.
Solution:
We’ve tackled huge logistical challenges before, and were able to get 115,000 square feet of metal onto the roof without snarling traffic downtown. That’s what we do.
The snow provided an unexpected challenge on the project — but we were prepared. We knew we couldn’t simply shovel the snow as it fell without risking damage to the membrane. We wanted to store our materials dry, apply them dry, and cover them with the roof membrane dry.
Our team rolled out temporary plastic to catch the snow, pulling it up to expose only the area we needed to access. We pulled up plastic, put the insulation down in front of us and the roofing immediately behind, recovering with plastic as we went.
Since part of the roof design included a system of gutters, future access would have to be maintained. We designed and installed a roof anchor protection system, for future maintenance workers to hook their safety harnesses onto. We alson installed a lifeline cable system which would allow these workers to move around the roof safely — even if it snowed.
General Contractor: Axiom Division 7
System Type: TPO membrane roof
Results:
This world class indoor track and field facility — a high-profile 53 million dollar project for the city of Spokane — was completed on time and on budget. In its inaugural season it played host to the USA Track & Field National Indoor Championships.
