John O'Quinn Field at the University of Houston

John O Quinn Field at TDECU (Texas Dow Employees Credit Union) is the home of Houston Cougars football team. The $136 million facility is located on Cullen Boulevard on The University of Houston campus. The new TDECU Stadium, seating 40,000, replaces the old Robertson Stadium to showcase the downtown Houston skyline in the background. Construction crews broke ground on December 3, 2012 and was completed on August 29, 2014. In addition, it also had a sold out televised ESPN home opener against the University of Texas San Antonio.

Durability, aesthetics, life cycle cost and low maintenance were top priorities...

The architect developed a concept to have a stadium set up so the premium suites, luxury boxes, and club level are built on the concourse level in the middle of the stands, unlike most stadiums where the luxury boxes are built on top of the grandstands. TDECU Stadium is an open concourse design with a complete lower bowl built twenty five feet under grade. The University had several factors to consider before selecting what corrosion protection system to specify for this project. The open air stadium is not only located in an urban marine environment with steel totally exposed to the atmosphere and occasional Hurricane activity, but it will see high foot traffic, not only during the football season, but for other sporting events as well as concerts and community events. Durability, aesthetics, life cycle cost and low maintenance were top priorities for the University, due to lack of time for continual maintenance on the exposed structures. Therefore, it was clear to the University of Houston that HDG was the only corrosion protection system to specify for the stadium. HDG will provide a sustainable, low maintenance, environmentally friendly corrosion protection for decades for the University of Houston.

From the beginning of this project to its completion, communication between the galvanizer, design team, fabricator and general contractor was very important to ensure all construction deadlines were achieved. The lower structural steel portion of the stadium consisted of 1,775 tons of structural steel shapes, including pieces that were 67 in length. By utilizing multi-plant operations the galvanizer was able to cut transportation cost for the 2 fabricators involved and meet progressive dipping needs. Clear and constant communication between the galvanizer and the fabricator was necessary in order to keep the oversized material moving in and out of the galvanizing facility and to the jobsite to meet strict construction deadlines and match the steel erection sequences and overall aesthetic look wanted by the architect. The handrails needed to be fabricated and galvanized in a numerical order and delivered to the jobsite, in order to be installed in sequence to meet the deadline for the opening game. The architect wanted a distinct look around the entire stadium by having flat bar top cable railings and top pipe with solid bar railings. The stadium will serve as a model for complex HDG projects in the future where an architects creativity matched with the will and determination and capability of the galvanizer can produce a successful project outcome.

This gorgeous stadium with the skyline of downtown Houston as a backdrop will provide a safe spectator environment, tie the city in with the university and have a low maintenance, corrosion free, long life expectancy due to the hot-dip galvanized coatings.