Construction is nearing completion for the 72,000-square-foot expansion of the Women’s Center emergency room at Rancho Springs Medical Center, located at 25500 Medical Center Drive in Murrieta, Calif.
McCarthy was retained for the $32,386,350 project by Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS), one of the nation’s leading hospital construction management firms. Tim Rielly is serving as project manager for UHS.
The project entailed construction of a two-story, cast-in-place concrete building with stud framing, plaster exteriors and punched windows. McCarthy is also performing site work at the 5.5-acre property, including construction of a 252-space parking lot with associated site improvements.
According to McCarthy Project Manager John Metoyer, work on the health facility initially was scheduled for completion on December 10 but, despite added work scope, the project was accelerated to an early November completion date.
“We’ve faced a number of construction challenges on this emergency room project, but we’ve managed to pull together as a team to get more done in less time,” said Metoyer. “The project is especially unique in that it integrates 9,000-PSI high strength concrete mix for the structural columns into the 5,000-PSI structural deck concrete with no cold joints, which added a high degree of difficulty to the concrete work.”
Placing the 9,000-PSI concrete was challenging because it cured much faster than the 5,000-PSI mix used for the decks. The columns were poured monolithic with the deck, which required careful coordination and timing for the delivery of the 9000-PSI mix design so that the two mixes could be blended where the concrete deck and columns join.
McCarthy constructed mock-ups of the column-to-deck connections to determine the best sequence and method of placement.
“It was a tremendous feat and undertaking,” said Metoyer. “We pulled it off with minimal consequences and got better and better with each pour.”
Other challenges for the McCarthy team included avoiding disruption of an operational emergency department during the construction of new corridors that connect the new construction to the existing facility.
HKS Architects of Dallas is the project architect and structural engineer. Hunter Associates Texas LTD, a TRC Company based in Dallas, is the civil engineer; and CCRD Partners of Dallas is the electrical and mechanical engineer. San Diego-based KTU+A Landscape Architecture & Planning is the landscape architect.
About McCarthy
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest commercial construction companies and has been ranked among the top five national healthcare construction companies by Modern Healthcare since the magazine began its annual ranking more than 30 years ago. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.
