NFL Team Wins IFMA Facility Management Achievement Award

The Denver Broncos were selected as the 2020 winner of the facility management achievement award from the Denver chapter of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).

The announcement was made during the Denver IFMA’s annual holiday gala, which this year was hosted virtually. The award is “given to facility managers or teams that show tremendous effort and innovative ideas that make a large impact on their organization.”

Lorie Libby, president of Denver’s IFMA chapter, said the award was officially given to Brett Seibel, engineering manager, and the Broncos’ engineering and operational team for the “astonishing amount of projects” they have done in 2020 “in response to COVID-19.”

Seibel and his team made pandemic safety modifications to the Bronco’s home stadium—Empower Field at Mile High—completing “over 170 projects in just a short amount of time,” Libby added.

The projects included:

• Removal and replacement of more than 1,500 sinks and toilet bowls with antimicrobial porcelain units
• Installation of nearly 3,000 touchless devices for faucets, toilets, soap dispensers, and paper towel dispensers
• Addition of UVC lighting disinfectant technology to all escalator handrails
• Installation of HVAC bipolar ionization units in 24 air handler units throughout the stadium
• Addition of 230 bipolar ionization units in heat pumps
• Installation of 100 stand-alone bipolar ionization units in public restrooms
• Addition of MERV 13 air filters in all units in common areas, offices, clubs, and locker rooms
• Replacement of the stadium’s bulk carbon dioxide system and the two dry sprinkler systems—which were converted to nitrogen
• Refurbishment of the cooling tower and flat plate
• Rerouting of duct work in 10 suites to improve energy efficiency
• Replacement of about 800 fluorescent fixtures with LED substitutes.

“We humbly accept the award, and this award goes to the folks in the trenches that truly did all the work,” Seibel said.

Learn how another NFL team’s facility—Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins—has changed its operations and instilled new cleaning protocols due to the pandemic.