McCarthy, one of the nation’s leading healthcare and education facility builders, has achieved the two-thirds completion benchmark for the new three-story, 50,000-square-foot Allied Health Building at San Diego Mesa College, located at 7250 Mesa College Dr. in the Clairemont area of San Diego, Calif.
According to McCarthy Project Director Robert Betz, work to fully enclose the building is underway. The in-wall and overhead rough-in is nearly complete on all levels, and the project team is preparing to enter the interior drywall installation stage.
“This step will require a substantial amount of material, including 20,000 square feet of drywall to cover 160,000 linear feet of metal stud framing material,” said Betz. “The project has experienced an especially low change order rate of less than one percent, and remains on schedule and within budget.”
The new $20 million San Diego Mesa College Allied Health Building is being funded by the Proposition S Construction Bond, which was approved by San Diego voters in 2002. Construction began last May, and is slated for completion this September. The road realignment, considered phase three of the project, is scheduled for completion in December.
Situated off Mesa College Drive at the main campus entry, the Allied Health facility will serve as a prominent landmark for San Diego Mesa College. It is the second instructional building to be built at Mesa College utilizing Proposition S funds. The building will house a computer lab, classrooms, a clinical dental lab, physical therapy lab, medical lab, plus faculty and staff offices.
Designed by San Diego-based Architects | Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker, the Allied Health Building incorporates a three-story layout to accommodate all of the uses required by the faculty, staff and students on the compact site. To reduce the vertical emphasis of the building, the exterior design incorporates multiple horizontal design elements, such as a continuous ribbon window curtain wall system with integral horizontal window eyebrows. The curtain wall plays a significant role in shading the glass and reducing the amount of internal solar gain inside the building.
Another important design element is the stone cladding on the more powerful vertical elements such as stairs and entry areas. This will be the first building on the campus to use stone elements on the exterior.
An important objective for all Propositions S and N construction projects is to obtain the highest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification possible. The Allied Health Building is designed to achieve LEED Silver certification status.
Among the sustainable design elements of the building are low-water use landscape, construction and design materials with a high recycled content, high-efficiency energy systems and Energy-Star roof systems. The Allied Health Building’s power requirements will be offset in part by energy generated by solar panels located on the roof of the adjacent parking structure.
Phase three of the project, involving the extensive realignment of an existing roadway, challenged the team to perform the majority of the work without interrupting the access/egress requirements of the campus. The McCarthy project team worked with the District to save several months on the District’s original schedule and sequencing plan. The shorter phasing plan will significantly reduce the campus disruption and ultimately save the taxpayers and the District a considerable amount of money.
Project team consultants include Hope Engineering for structural engineering, RBF Consulting for civil engineering and Xnth for mechanical and electrical engineering. Wimmer Yamada & Caughey is the landscape architect, and Churchill Engineering, Inc., is the code consultant. Gafcon is the program manager for the Propositions S and N construction program for the San Diego Community College District.
About McCarthy
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest commercial construction companies. The firm has been building in the education market for the last 50 years having managed construction or built more than 400, K-12 school projects nationwide, totaling more than $2 billion in construction value, and more than 200 higher education projects on more than 40 campuses. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com
