Administration and Finance Focus

Administration Finance & Focus

Facilities

Facilities helps with the construction of new football practice facility

283

By Destinie Holiday

The University of Houston System Board of Regents approved the construction of a new football practice facility in February 2016. UH Facilities Planning and Construction moved quickly and the construction project was underway shortly after the 2016 football season ended. Despite a slight delay from Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath, the facility was ready during the middle of the 2017 season.

It includes a full 100-yard field equipped with remote control cameras situated above that allow coaches to review games from different perspectives.

In the past, weather was a major obstacle for the football team to be able to practice. If there were bad weather days, practice had to be moved to the Houston Texans practice bubble adjacent to NRG Stadium. The commute to this alternative training facility could take up to an hour and a half including loading, traveling and unloading, with a cost to the University and an obvious strain on the available practice time for UH’s athletes and coaches. On occasion, they even had to cancel practice altogether.

The completion of the new football practice facility has alleviated these challenges and has become a great resource to the college as well as the athletes and coaches. The facility will also entice the recruitment of potential student football athletes.

"This CMAR (construction manager-at-risk) project would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the teamwork, dedication and hard work by the architect PBK and the contractor Harvey Construction, working in collaboration with the UH Athletic Department and UH Facilities Planning and Construction," said Senior Project Manager Kerry Prejean, MPA.

He expressed his appreciation of the team and shared his excitement.

"I look forward to seeing our football team win, win, win, while thinking that I somehow might have played a little role in making that possible,” Prejean said.