Metl-Span provides Liberty University with a home field advantage

The Liberty University football team was in need of a new indoor practice venue as it prepared to reclassify to the upper echelons of Division I college football.

Having opened in August of 2017, the $29 million 95,000 square-foot structure now stands as one of the best indoor practice facilities in all of college football – and a symbol of the program’s transformation.

In order to get the multi-purpose facility up and running in time for the team to begin preparations for the 2017 season, installers at W.H. Stovall & Company – a Virginia-based engineering building company – were tasked with fast-tracking the construction process.

Not only did W.H. Stovall require accurate shop drawings to keep what Liberty Athletic Director Ian McCaw dubbed as a “game-changing facility” on time and on budget, but it needed them in-house quicker than normal to keep the project progressing.

Metl-Span’s team of expert professionals stepped in to deliver game-changing insulated metal panels (IMPs), along with the guidance and expertise of its in-house drafting program. It’s that type of dependability and prompt reaction time to questions that helped W.H. Stovall estimator Jack Eaton keep the project on plan and avoid the pitfalls that often come along with delayed construction schedules.

“We needed to get the shop drawings produced and we needed to get all the submittals going,” Eaton said. “We were able to order and have Metl-Span produce them in a faster manner than it would normally take, and that made a big difference.”

The difference was evident in the final product, as over 30,000 square feet of Metl-Span CF Mesa panels now house the football team as well as a variety of student-athlete practices throughout the year.

The facility’s CF Mesa panels feature a double joint system that provides redundancy against leakage, building a barrier that protects the facility and its athletes from harsh weather conditions. The prefabricated panels consist of a rigid, continuous urethane core that provides consistent insulation and R-value. The panels’ single-source solution along with all-weather installation allows for expedited installation times that helped the University stick to its compressed construction timeline.

The efficiency and insulating values of Metl-Span’s panels are matched only by their aesthetic value. The sandstone and polar white color palettes create an inviting façade on campus that greets players, coaches and students alike at the gateway to Liberty University’s athletics corridor on the Lynchburg, Va., campus.

“Anybody who’s seen pictures from Liberty are impressed, because it’s a big footprint of Metl-Span product and it looks really good,” Eaton said.

Visit metlspan.com/IMP to watch as Eaton discusses the key difference Metl-Span made on the Liberty Practice Facility project.