In this Spring edition, articles include:

Time to Build: Today, owners are getting the best value in a generation.
by Mike Bolen, Chairman & CEO, McCarthy
Many owners are beginning to take advantage of a welcome side-effect of the current recession: an unprecedented drop in the cost of building materials and labor.

Why Building the Community is Just as Important as Building the Project.
by Angeles Garcia, McCarthy Project Manager, Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center
When a construction project is in full swing in a neighborhood, next door to a business, or along a heavily traveled highway, it can be a nuisance. Find out how to turn this project challenge into a win-win for everyone.

See the National Edition now.

Readers can also view region-specific content by selecting from the drop down menu titled View Other Editions. These include Central, Nevada/Utah, Southern California, Northern Pacific, Southwest, Southeast, Texas and MC Industrial.

McCarthy served as the project’s construction manager at risk (CM at Risk) and general contractor while TMCS was the construction manager and inspector of record. Hornberger + Worstell served as the architect with Ellerbe Becket, an AECOM Company, as the associate architect for health services. The WELL is seeking LEED Silver certification and will be open for the fall 2010 term after a grand opening event on Sept. 2.

The WELL’s opening is part of the University’s Destination 2010 celebration, a year-long observance of the initiative that has enhanced Sacramento State’s academic programs, student support services and facilities since its launch in 2004 by Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez.

“This is the only facility within the California State University system that has combined recreation and wellness under one roof, which will provide interrelated services offered by these programs to further enhance the quality of life for its users. It embraces green building principles and materials and was constructed to offer students, faculty and staff everything you would want out of a recreation and wellness facility,” said Mark Radell, project director for McCarthy.

“We were pleased to have pursued this large-scale project using the CM at Risk delivery method, which allowed collaboration between all project partners during planning and construction to deliver a vast program of services in a complex building with a cohesive and thoughtful approach. I would like to thank the team’s perseverance and hard work in making Sacramento State’s dream a reality,” said Tony Moayed, president of TMCS.

In addition to the largest rock climbing wall in the California State University system, The WELL features a fitness center, indoor track, gym courts, racquetball courts, and a student health center that includes primary and urgent care clinics, a retail pharmacy, vision care center, x-ray services, counseling services, a nutrition center and wellness promotion programs. There is also space for Peak Adventures, a student-run outdoor program.

Seeking LEED Silver certification, the project incorporates a number of sustainable features, including Foiltec skylight systems to improve thermal properties; design elements to increase day lighting; high efficiency HVAC systems; emphasis on light pollution reductions; enhanced commissioning and sustainably harvested formaldehyde-free wood products; and access to alternative transportation facilities, including bicycle parking and proximity to a nearby light rail station.

“We are very pleased with how the project team pursued the plan, listened to the stakeholders and executed what is one of our most ambitious projects in the history of the university,” said Mario Ruiz, interim associate vice president of facilities services at Sacramento State.  “The grand opening celebration will signify many years of work to make the vision for The WELL a reality for the students, faculty and staff.”

The WELL is part of the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex, which includes Hornet Stadium and the 26,235-square-foot Eli and Edythe L. Broad Fieldhouse located at the south end of the stadium.That facility houses the football and track and field programs.

About TMCS
Tony Moayed Construction Services, Inc. (TMCS) is a construction management company founded in 2003 to serve the commercial construction industry.  TMCS is the ninth largest construction management company in Sacramento and its four surrounding counties.  Its services include program management, construction management and preconstruction management. More information about the company is available online at www.tmcsco.com.

About McCarthy
Founded in 1864, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest commercial construction companies.  The company provides general contracting, construction management, program management and design/build services for resort and entertainment, education, healthcare, parking, entertainment, retail, laboratory, biotechnical, microelectronic, and industrial facilities; green buildings; office buildings; tenant interiors; mixed-use; and bridges and highways.  McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned.  More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.

How True Builders Make a Difference
by Derek Glanvill, President and COO
A true builder has an end-to-end view of the entire construction process, from preconstruction through delivery and beyond. That adds value for owners, but there’s one central issue at the heart of the construction industry itself: forgetting how to build.

Is There a Perfect World in Project Delivery?
by Sue Stewart, Senior Vice President
The answer may be that creating the perfect project delivery method starts by implementing no defined project delivery method at all. Find out why.

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Readers can also view region-specific content by selecting from the drop down menu titled View Other Editions. These include Central, Nevada/Utah, Southern California, Northern Pacific, Southwest, Southeast, Texas and MC Industrial.

The Mercy Medical Center includes the following departments: Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Surgery Center, Operation Recovery, Labor and Delivery, Neonatal ICU, Newborn Nursery, Emergency Room and Ambulatory Care, as well as a pharmacy, cafeteria and helipad.  The facility also offers state-of-the-art data and telecommunications systems; environmentally sensitive power plant equipment; advanced mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems; an emergency services response system featuring high-tech radio communications technology that covers multiple counties; a security system controlled by RS2 technologies; and external and internal design elements to promote healing. 

In addition to CHW, the primary team members, consisting of McCarthy, RBB Architects, Inc. and the owner’s construction manager Harris & Associates, worked with the owner to implement a “design-assist” delivery process to help create a soothing hospital environment engineered for today’s innovative technology standards.  This multi-faceted approach allowed the team to meet well before construction began to collaborate on design, owner/user group and Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) issues to provide a complete coordinated design that met the OSHPD criteria, as well as owner expectation.  The project was completed within schedule and under budget, and included minimal OSHPD deferred approvals and change orders, as well as reduced MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) coordination duration.

“The collaborative approach of all key project participants was built on trust, respect and open communication, which made this project an unprecedented success,” said Chris Dugas, area manager for design and construction, CHW.  “Project issues were aired openly and resolved with continual focus on the ultimate common goals.”

“We were thrilled to be an integral part in fulfilling CHW’s and Mercy Medical Center’s vision to expand its healthcare in the Merced area through this new state-of-the-art facility,” said McCarthy’s Project Director Bryan Anderson.  “The design-assist approach helped us mitigate any challenges up front while successfully meeting the project’s goals of integrating high-technological capabilities and environmentally friendly materials and processes – ultimately resulting in a project that was delivered within schedule and with substantial cost savings to CHW.”

In addition to the advanced technological capabilities, environmentally conscious construction process and materials were also a focus of Mercy Medical Center’s development plan.  The project team participated in the Savings by Design program and the Merced Irrigation District recently presented the Center with a $120,000 check for participation.  Environmental elements include: high efficiency chillers and boilers; premium efficiency motors for the cooling tower, hot water pumps, medical air and vacuum systems; and energy efficient fluorescent lighting with room occupancy sensors.  McCarthy recycled 100 percent of concrete waste, as well as more than 85 percent of all other construction materials.

About Catholic Healthcare West
Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), headquartered in San Francisco, CA, is a system of 41 hospitals and medical centers in California, Arizona, and Nevada. Founded in 1986, it is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health care systems and the largest private hospital system in California. CHW is committed to delivering compassionate, high-quality, affordable health care services with special attention to the poor and underserved. The CHW network of nearly 10,000 physicians and approximately 54,000 employees provides health care services to more than five million people annually. In 2009, CHW provided nearly $1.2 billion in charity care, community benefit, and unreimbursed patient care.  For more information, visit www.chwhealth.org.

About McCarthy
Founded in 1864, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest commercial construction companies.  The company provides general contracting, construction management, program management and design/build services for resort and entertainment, education, healthcare, parking, entertainment, retail, laboratory, biotechnical, microelectronic, and industrial facilities; green buildings; office buildings; tenant interiors; mixed-use; and bridges and highways.  McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned.  More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.

“This project represented a true collaborative effort, and the end result is an innovative campus, which incorporated cutting edge technology to emphasize the technical science and engineering curriculum offered by the school,” said Mark Radell, McCarthy’s project director.  “It is gratifying to be a part of a project that will foster an optimal learning environment for years to come.”

The School of Engineering and Sciences is one of the SCUSD’s small, innovative schools dedicated to providing choices for students and their parents. The school provides access to standards-based teaching and learning in a personalized project-based educational environment, with particular emphasis on the math, engineering and science subjects.

“We are extremely proud to be part of such a successful project,” said Duane Wray, executive director, capital projects of Regent Development.  “The quality of the school district-city partnership, coupled with an outstanding team comprised of Regent, McCarthy, WLC and various subcontractors, created a great synergy for making this an exceptional project.  Furthermore, by incorporating a number of sustainable elements, we were able to save the taxpayers and district money.”

Regent and McCarthy utilized a number of construction methods and products that resulted in cost efficiencies, less environmental impact and minimal disruption to the surrounding community.  For example, the School of Engineering and Sciences is among the first few schools in California to employ an innovative building technique using geopiers.  Approved for use by the California Division of Architecture, the process of installing geopiers includes digging 13-foot holes and packing them with recycled crushed concrete or local aggregate.  The geopiers anchor the foundation to the earth, as well as other conventional systems such as driven piles.  As a benefit to the community, geopiers are installed much more quickly than using traditional methods, minimizing the noise disruption. Additionally, geopiers are environmentally friendly and cost effective, saving taxpayer dollars.

The project team is also constructing the adjacent Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library, which is scheduled for completion in summer 2010. The library is the first built through a cooperative agreement between the city and school district. In addition, the project team is also constructing the campus’ athletic fields. Both the library and athletic fields will be open to the School of Engineering and Sciences students and area residents. The entire project is the product of a hybrid partnership between the city of Sacramento and the SCUSD.

About Regent Development
Regent provides first-class development services to public agencies including cities, counties, colleges, universities, K-12 school districts and state and joint-use agencies. It offers design/build/finance services to its public clients and was one of the first to employ the lease/leaseback delivery method in the state of California. The Regent team is comprised of experienced development professionals who have had leadership roles in federal, state and local governments and in private industry. To learn more, visit Regent online at www.regentdevelopment.com.

About McCarthy
Founded in 1864, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest commercial construction companies.  The company provides general contracting, construction management, program management and design/build services for resort and entertainment, education, healthcare, parking, entertainment, retail, laboratory, biotechnical, microelectronic, and industrial facilities; green buildings; office buildings; tenant interiors; mixed-use; and bridges and highways.  McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned.  More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.

CCIP vs. OCIP: Which Comprehensive Insurance Program is Right for You?
by Bill Sharp, Vice President, Risk Management
With the size and scope of projects becoming larger every day, program sponsors (owners and contractors) are seeking alternative ways to address insurance needs, both from a coverage standpoint and a cost standpoint.

When the Hospital Board Says, “Build it Green!”
by John Kreidich AIA, LEED AP, Manager, Healthcare Services
Building green in the healthcare environment is here to stay. Well-chosen green building investments will yield benefits with either no additional cost or with a return on investment well within a hospital’s internal rate of return over the life of the improvements.

5 Questions to Ask Your Contractor About SAFETY
An Interview with Gary Amsinger, CSP, Corporate Vice President, Safety
In addition to simply keeping workers healthy and productive, strong safety execution reduces exposure for owners. Amsinger suggests that owners should ask, at the very least, these basic five questions of their prospective contractor.

See the National Edition now.

Readers can also view region-specific content by selecting from the drop down menu titled View Other Editions. These include Central, Nevada/Utah, Southern California, Northern Pacific, Southwest, Southeast, Texas and MC Industrial editions.

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. has introduced its new ‘green’ client newsletter, Insights That Build^SM.  It’s all part of the company’s goal of Leaving Green Footprints^®, a 10-year old program aimed at reducing McCarthy’s carbon footprint.  The first electronic edition includes valuable thought-leading content including:

How to get the best final cost on your next project
by Mike Bolen, Chairman and CEO
‘Conventional wisdom’ says that owners can’t have it all. In fact-by taking the right approach-you can turn an old saying into a smarter strategy: ‘Good, fast and cheap: pick all three.’

Design management – why owners get a better result
by Jim Mynott, Director of Design Management
In this economic climate, execution time from proposal to start of construction can be a deciding factor for project funding. A design management approach can help—and it maximizes other owner advantages.

Five things you should ask your contractor about quality
by Chad Dorgan, Vice President, Quality
There are few words in construction that are more used – or more misused – than the word “quality.”  To understand what it means to YOUR construction project, you and your contractor need to talk.

See the National Edition now.

Readers can also view region-specific content by selecting from the drop down menu titled ‘Other Regional Editions’.  These include Southern California, Northern Pacific, Southwest, Nevada/Utah, Texas, Central, and Southeast editions.

The annual awards program recognizes the state’s construction projects that best epitomize the principles of partnering.  Honored in the hospitality and entertainment category, McCarthy was recognized for its teamwork and collaboration in completing the 605,000-square-foot expansion of the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in Coarsegold.

“We’re incredibly honored to receive this award,” said Rich Henry, president of McCarthy’s Northern Pacific Division.  “The key to this project’s success was the willingness and ability of all entities involved to collaborate and work together.  We were presented with some challenges, including building the expansion tower in the midst of existing resort activity, but all were resolved through communication and partnership.”

The Excellence in Partnering Awards are presented annually by AGC of California for the purpose of identifying excellence in partnering, celebrating success and honoring stakeholders.  The nominated projects are judged on adherence to the principles of partnering, team building and effective communication, goals evaluation, conflict resolution, and delivery of a safe and quality project.

The Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino expansion project included a new 13-story hotel tower, full-service spa, indoor/outdoor pool, restaurant, arcade, administrative offices and a five-story, 814-car parking structure.  The hotel tower adds an additional 214 luxury rooms and suites to the resort’s existing 192-unit room inventory, for a total of 406 rooms and suites.  It includes numerous room upgrades and amenities, including larger-sized rooms, granite countertops and plasma televisions.  Its suites feature fireplaces, separate seating areas and jetted tubs.

Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino is owned by the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians.  The expansion project’s architect was  Thalden • Boyd • Emery Architects Architects of St. Louis.

About McCarthy
Founded in 1864, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest commercial construction companies.  The company provides general contracting, construction management, program management and design/build services for resort and entertainment, education, healthcare, parking, entertainment, retail, laboratory, biotechnical, microelectronic, and industrial facilities; green buildings; office buildings; tenant interiors; mixed-use; and bridges and highways.  McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned.  More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.

The mother, Mary Ann Riojas, was born without legs and only one fully developed arm. Despite facing a lifetime of adversity, she is dedicated to giving back and is an inspiration to her community. Mary Ann has managed to live an independent and active life, including having four children. Unfortunately, her home was ill-equipped to serve her physical challenges and led to many serious physical injuries.

Along with the other participants, McCarthy partners worked 14-hour days for a week straight to provide the family with a home custom built for the mother’s special needs. Led by McCarthy Project Superintendent James Wickham, their contributions included working on door frames and trim work, as well as constructing a new bed for Mary Ann. At the end of the week, the family had more than a place to live, they had the security and peace of mind that comes with the knowledge their family will live in a safe and supportive home.

“We were so humbled to be invited to participate in this exciting whirlwind project for this incredible family and enjoyed meeting and working with the show’s designers,” said Wickham. “I was especially humbled to lead construction on Mary Ann’s bed – something that will truly make a difference in her life going forward.”

The show aired on Sunday, March 8.

About Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
The Emmy award winning reality program “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” now in its 6th season, is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. It’s executive-produced by Anthony Dominici. David Goldberg is Chairman, Endemol North America. The show airs Sundays from 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET on ABC.

About McCarthy Heart Hats
The McCarthy Heart Hats community involvement program is dedicated to encouraging, supporting and recognizing McCarthy employees’ volunteer efforts in a variety of causes to ensure real needs are being met in communities where employees work, live and play. A 100 percent employee-owned company, McCarthy employees are as passionate about building better communities as they are about construction. More information is available on line at www.mccarthy.com.

K-12 EDUCATION

“This project was designed with the highest educational mission in mind-to accelerate our students’ learning experience and improve academic achievement. McCarthy, Regent and HMR delivered a facility that exceeded our expectations.”
—Rick Jennings, school board member and chairman of the facilities committee, SCUSD

McCarthy recently completed George Washington Carver School of Arts and Science, the newest addition to the Sacramento Unified School District (SCUSD). The 45,808-square-foot, 8-building charter school facility, funded in large part by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is situated on 13 acres and serves a maximum of 500 students.

George Washington Carver School of Arts and Science breaks the traditional school “box” model and provides a supportive learning environment designed to resemble that of a college or university campus setting. The main focal point of the school is a central corridor featuring an exterior amphitheater. The unique complex is complete with exterior brick work, barrel roofs, intricate wood framing and decorative facades and canopies. The facility caters to the highest of academic amenities, such as laboratories equipped to handle complicated experiments and a specialty computer lab to foster a technology curriculum. Other features include: 20 classrooms, administrative and multipurpose buildings, a fully functioning cafeteria, and a library, as well as athletic fields. Architect: HMR Architects, Inc., Sacramento, Calif. Project Developer: Regent Development, Inc., Sacramento, Calif.