DATE PUBLISHED: Aug 5, 2021 

Dubbed the Training Center of the Future, the Livermore Electric Safety Academy is the recipient of a Green Project Award by Engineering News-Record (ENR), recognizing California’s Best Projects. The new training center won ENR’s Best Project of the Year 2020 Award for Northern California as well as the 2021 Richard A. Clarke Environmental Leadership Award Champion. The trifecta was achieved when it was announced the project also received a 2021 Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) Western Pacific Region Award.  

The Livermore Electric Safety Academy’s focus is on Transmission and Distribution safety training. The largest new addition to the academy is the electric substation and training building for operations and maintenance education. This new training site provides a safe environment to train, validate, and assess substation employees in realistic, simulated field conditions, complete with full-size training poles and mini-residential buildings.

The training center is comprised of more than 44 acres dedicated to electrical training and safety. Targeting net-zero, the 12,000- square foot, substation training LEED Gold building contains break-out training rooms and state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment. The 17,000- square foot, Main Building was awarded LEED Silver ID+C. This building project consists of the renovation of an existing building, including a new cafeteria, offices, classrooms, and meeting spaces. Other project components include a new transformer training building, photovoltaic canopies, and drought-resistant native landscaping.

SPECIAL FEATURE

A new seismically-sound glass floor brings maximum daylight into the first-floor café via a second-level glass floor feature. The glass floor minimizes noise levels for the administrative offices located between this feature and the café.

CHALLENGES

Since hundreds of apprentices were being trained and certified during construction, working around a busy, occupied training facility was especially challenging. Multiple projects occurred throughout the site with strategic phasing to keep onsite activities and circulation active and safe.