Construx and Wright-Ryan building 62,500 s/f Plymouth State University ice arena and welcome center

Center for Active Living, Learning and Wellness

Rendering, Center for Active Living, Learning and Wellness

Plymouth, NH Construction began last spring on a $16.4 million, 62,500 s/f multi-phase Center for Active Living, Learning and Wellness at Plymouth State University. ALLWell (Active Living, Learning and Wellness) is scheduled to be open summer 2010 with a welcome center and a new NHL sized ice arena seating 850 spectators and providing parking for 600 cars. It will also serve as a teaching facility for instruction and research in ice activities, a home for Panther varsity men's and women's ice hockey teams and a site for student recreation. The ice arena will also be a venue for community skating including high school athletics, adult and youth hockey leagues, figure skating and recreational skating.

Featuring a welcome center lobby, the new construction plans on providing an attractive meeting place for prospective students, parents and visitors to the campus as well as to the towns of Plymouth, Holderness and the wider Lakes and Mountains region.

The ALLWell Center is the first of a five-phase plan to be constructed. Future phases will house classrooms, research laboratories and support areas for academic and athletic programs, including a gymnasium, an aquatic center and a new field house.

Wright-Ryan Construction of Portland is the primary contractor for the ice arena project. PSU estimates that approximately 60% of the construction sub-contractors are New Hampshire based companies.

Construx, Inc. of Plymouth supplied and erected the pre-engineered metal building, including the installation of horizontal and vertical architectural insulated panels and ceiling liner panels.

The architect is Sasaki Associates, Inc. of Watertown, Mass.

This facility will meet LEED Silver standards by the installation of a sophisticated geothermal heating/cooling design to maximize energy conservation opportunities. The combination of geothermal and the capture of waste heat generated by ice making equipment will provide the heat for the facility.

ALLWell promises to transform the economic and educational landscape, according to an economic impact study predicting that the ice arena will create 25.8 additional employment positions earning $1,031,000. Construction is scheduled to take 15 months and during that time, there is estimated to be $2,245,000 in additional business sales in the region.