Each year the Secretary of Energy’s Project Management Excellence Awards Program recognizes exceptional teams and individuals that demonstrate exemplary results through resourceful, inventive thinking and application.  The awards also recognize performance of outstanding program or project management measured by their success.

The Chemical and Materials Sciences Building marked many “firsts” for ORNL, including utilization of the Construction Management at Risk (CMR) project delivery method and the application of Building Information Modeling (BIM). With CMR, McCarthy provided preconstruction and construction services and was engaged with the owner, architect and consultants from design through construction and until the facility became operational, which lowered the owner’s overall risk on the project.

In addition to the utilization of CMR, McCarthy’s implementation of BIM significantly improved construction performance by creating 3D mock-ups of piping and structural components. By applying BIM during preconstruction, the project team was able to resolve more than 7,000 utility interferences. BIM improved the safety and quality performance by eliminating overhead work through offsite manufacturing of building components “Using BIM technology made significant contributions to improving overall project management, as well as building design, construction, safety and future maintenance operations” said Gary Bloom, UT-Battelle project manager. “McCarthy’s team played a key role in the success of this project.”

McCarthy completed more than 600,000 safe construction hours of work and also completed the project six months ahead of schedule and 34 percent larger than anticipated (160,427 total square feet) due to effective project management.

Bloom added that the benefits and success of BIM on this project resulted in the adoption of BIM utilization for all future large scale capital projects at ORNL.

In addition to this award, the project also received the ASHRAE Region-VI Technology Award for excellence of energy efficiency design and was nominated for the national ASHRAE award. Energy performance is 30.2 percent better than required. The installation of solar panels generates 31,356 KWh of power. The project received $60.6 million of Recovery Act funding, which expedited construction and created over 208 jobs.

The Chemical and Materials Sciences Building is also on track to achieve LEED^® Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, which supports ORNL’s emphasis on energy efficiency in both practice and purpose. Through its research, ORNL has pioneered a number of technologies that improve energy efficiency and lower energy costs. The new research building incorporates some of the advances developed on campus.

Finalization of concept design, design and construction documents and construction administration was provided by Cannon Design of St. Louis. Original concept design was completed by Flad Architects of Madison, Wisc. McCarthy utilized local tradespeople for construction. Contractors on the project included Gem Technologies, Ozark Steel Fabrication, Kelpe Contracting, T.U. Parks Construction Co., Gate Precast, Payne Crest Electric, John E. Green Mechanical, Odom Construction, Escola Roofing, Trainor Glass, Johnson Controls and Thyssen Krupp Elevator.

About Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) (www.ornl.gov) is the Department of Energy’s (DOE) (www.energy.gov) largest science and energy laboratory. Managed since April 2000 by a partnership of the University of Tennessee and Battelle, ORNL has a staff of more than 4,600 and annual funding exceeds $1.65 billion. The laboratory is home to the Spallation Neutron Source, the world’s most powerful neutron source for materials research; and Jaguar, one of the world’s fastest supercomputers. ORNL supports the DOE’s mission with expertise in six major scientific areas: neutron science, energy, high-performance computing, systems biology, materials science at the nanoscale, and national security. 

About McCarthy
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. (www.mccarthy.com) is one of the nation’s oldest and largest commercial construction companies. Founded in 1864, the firm is currently the 8^th largest builder in America (Engineering News-Record, May 2012) and has been building in the science and technology market for more than 50 years. This resume of experience includes: research facilities; life sciences; nanotechnology; pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical processing; data centers; high containment labs (BSL-3, BSL-4 and Potent Compound); cleanrooms; agri-business; and biomedical facilities. In addition to the Department of Energy, McCarthy provides services throughout the federal sector, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Homeland Security, US Army Corps of Engineers, Naval Facilities Engineering Command and Indian Health Service. The company is working on government projects totaling $2.4 billion nationwide. Headquartered in St. Louis, McCarthy also has offices in Atlanta, Collinsville, Ill., Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, San Diego, Newport Beach, San Francisco and Sacramento. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned.

Betz assumed this position following a six-month transition period working in tandem with Ron Hall, former executive vice president of the San Diego office, who recently retired from McCarthy after 25 years with the firm.

Having joined McCarthy in 1994, Betz has accumulated 18 years of expertise serving in various leadership roles for McCarthy’s Southern California Division, including project engineer, assistant project manager, project manager, senior project manager, project director, and most recently, vice president of operations for the San Diego region. In his new position as senior vice president, he is responsible for the financial performance and overall operations of McCarthy’s San Diego office.  He will oversee client relations, estimating, office operations and personnel as well as integration of the company’s scheduling, safety and contracts departments.

“Throughout his career with McCarthy, Bob has demonstrated strong leadership abilities, together with a commitment to quality, safety, and construction innovation,” said Randy Highland, McCarthy president, California region. “He assuredly has earned our company’s trust and that of our San Diego clients, making him the clear choice to take over management of our San Diego operations.” 

A 23-year veteran of the construction industry, Betz has played an integral role in the successful completion of 20 large-scale McCarthy construction projects in San Diego and Orange counties.  He has been instrumental in establishing McCarthy among the top green builders in the region, and helped lead the division’s use of leading technology on jobsites.

Most recently, Betz has been directing construction for the $115 million UCSD Health Sciences Biomedical Research Facility and the $90 million San Diego Mesa College Math and Science Building. He currently is playing a leadership role for the new $35 million J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla.

Past San Diego projects for Betz include the recently completed $17.1 million LEED Platinum Miramar College Police Station and adjoining 828-car Parking Structure, the LEED Gold Allied Health Building at San Diego Community College, the $17.1 million UCSD Biomedical Library addition, the $22 million Salk Institute for Biological Studies East Wing Addition, the $33 million Lodge at Torrey Pines, the $33.4 million Estancia La Jolla Resort, the $26.5 million Rady Children’s Hospital Parking Structure and the $10.2 million Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas Parking Structure.

A graduate of California State University at Fullerton, Betz holds a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering.  He earned an Associate of Arts degree in architectural engineering from Cerritos College.  He also holds certificates of Construction Technology, OSHA 500 Construction Safety, and OSHA 501 General Industry Safety from the University of California, San Diego.

Born and raised in Southern California, Betz currently resides in the North San Diego County community of Rancho Bernardo with Lisa, his wife of 15 years, and their two children. His personal interests include all types of sports, hunting, and freshwater fishing.

About McCarthy:
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest, privately held construction firms.  As the largest general building contractor in California and one of the top green construction firms in the state, McCarthy is committed to the construction of high performance buildings. In addition to San Diego, McCarthy has offices in Newport Beach, Sacramento and San Francisco, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas; Houston; St. Louis; and Atlanta.  McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned.  More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.

The four-story medical facility, which broke ground on January 25, 2012, will house five operating rooms, dentistry, oncology and physical and occupational therapy services. Additionally, the project will include 10 acres of site parking and landscape, offsite signalization and street improvements as well as a 31,000-square-foot LEED Silver-rated renovation to existing administration space.

“The MLK, Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center project will provide a necessary upgrade for how healthcare is delivered to the community,” said Curtis Lockwood, Vice President, HDR Architecture, Inc. “ The new facility will be key to delivering outpatient care and connecting the inpatient and outpatient services to the new state-of-the-art facilities.”

Located on the existing Martin Luther King, Jr. Medical Center campus, fronting on 120th Street in the Willowbrook community of Los Angeles, delivery of the design-build project is highlighted by a mix of modern green features and sophisticated BIM (Building Information Modeling).

“The BIM process is currently in progress,” said Michael Wiggins, McCarthy project director. “All major subcontractors participate in 3D coordination of systems to avoid issues in the field, and the project team is using a web-based paperless submittal system and will provide the owner with an Electronic Facility Maintenance Guide at closeout.”

Wiggins said coordination meetings are being conducted in a BIM Collaboration Room called BIM Theater, and the team is using modeling software such as Revit, Navis Works, and AutoCad among others. 

To meet the environmentally tough standards of LEED Gold, the MLK, Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center will pursue a variety of LEED credits. These include use of products with recycled content, locally manufactured products, 95% construction waste stream recycling, elimination of light pollution, water use reduction, and an elaborate rain water recycling program.

“One of the most interesting green features on this project is the onsite storm water retention system,” says Wiggins. “This recharge system allows storm water to go into the soil beneath the parking lots as opposed to the being discharged off-site.”

Wiggins said the water containment feature was designed to hold a typical 10-year storm, or about one inch of rainfall over the site.

The project will be built with a conventional foundation on concrete piers, and a structural steel moment-frame with concrete-filled metal deck. The public-facing façade will be glass curtain-wall with stone accents at bottom level.  “Back-of -house” facades will be plaster with punched window openings.

At the project peak, approximately 250 construction workers will be involved in construction, and many will be members of the local community. “McCarthy is targeting to far exceed the County’s goal for labor hours performed on the project by local and disadvantaged workers,” said Wiggins.  “McCarthy has been reaching out to local apprentices and skilled construction workers at community events and through local work-source centers in order to put the local community to work on the Ambulatory Care project. College student internships will be provided during the summer months for students that are in Construction Management, Engineering or Architectural programs. We are also committed to the hiring of Los Angeles County small businesses to perform subcontracted work on the project,” explained Wiggins.

In addition, McCarthy has joined forces with the National Association for Equal Justice in America (NAEJA) and Centennial High School in Compton to provide a student intern and construction project management training program for high school students interested in a career in construction.  This program is intended to provide an educational experience for the students, as well as to aid the shrinking construction industry workforce by exposing a new generation to the field of construction. Projections show that the construction industry is expected to have a shortage of skilled workers as the baby boomer generation (1946-1964) retires over the next five years.  In addition, many construction industry professionals and trades-people left the industry during the economic downturn which further exacerbates the worker shortage.

Currently scheduled for an early completion in July 2013 (ahead of the contractual completion date), the Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center project is now completing the deep foundation work. By summer, Wiggins says the project will be about 30 percent complete, with the structural steel work completed, the foundation and superstructure finished, and the shell beginning to take shape.

This is the second project McCarthy has completed at the medical center. The first was the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Public Health budgeted at $20 million, which opened in October 2011. This design-build project, located on the north end of the MLK, Jr. campus, replaced the existing South Health Center, and included construction of a two-level, 31,000-square-foot medical office building and an adjacent 76-car parking lot.

Other project team members involved in the current Martin Luther King, Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center project include: HDR Architecture, Inc. – architect and interior designer; KPFF – structural engineer; Psomas – civil engineer; SASCO – electrical design-builder; TMAD – mechanical and plumbing peer reviewer; Lynn Capouya – landscape architect; ACCO – Mechanical design-builder; Murray Company – plumbing design-builder and Sharpe Interiors/Eagle Summit – drywall/light-gauge framing subcontractor.

About McCarthy
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the oldest and largest commercial builders in America and has been ranked among the nation’s premier healthcare builders by Modern Healthcare for more than 30 years.  In addition to Newport Beach, McCarthy has offices in San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas; Houston; St. Louis and Atlanta.  McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com .

In the ACE Mentor Program, industry professionals, such as those at McCarthy, volunteer to become mentors to high school students in order to introduce them to the professions and encourage them to pursue studies and careers in these fields. In return, the construction industry, which is anticipating a shortage of skilled workers as the Baby Boomer generation continues to retire, gets a much-needed boost of new talent.

McCarthy has participated in the ACE Mentor program for 10 years, and each year the firm teams with an architect or engineer to give students a comprehensive view of what it’s like to work in the building industry. This year, McCarthy is teaming with Tom Nusbickel, AIA, the lead ACE Mentor for Century High School, to mentor approximately 25 students from Century High School in Santa Ana. Rebecca Holliman is the teacher in charge of the group at Century High School.

Over a nine month period beginning at the start of the school year, the Century High students tour construction jobsites; visit construction, architect and engineering offices; and participate in hands-on training at the Local Unions. The students will also complete a final project and present it in front of the other Orange County schools who are participating in the ACE Mentor Program.

As the first outing of the year, McCarthy Project Manager Adam Kaufman, who is the ACE representative for McCarthy, along with the McCarthy project staff from the CHOC Children’s Hospital led the high school students through the McCarthy jobsite offices at CHOC to see the project plans and meet the team involved with the tower project. Later, the students learned about construction safety, put on their hard hats, safety vests, goggles and other safety gear before touring the seven-level building. During the tour, students witnessed the finishing touches being put on the new facility and learned about the hospital construction process.  McCarthy project engineers and the project manager in charge of the CHOC project were on hand to provide project information and discuss building elements unique to the CHOC project.

“In the next year or so, each of these students will be making decisions regarding college and potential career choices. Exposure to the construction industry on such a large scale and at this young age can only broaden the horizons of each student’s career path,” said Adam Kaufman.

As a testament to the program, the students at Century High School recently learned that their group is among the top three finalists in the country selected to present their ACE Mentor final project in the National ACE Mentor Competition on May 1, 2012. A few students from the school will have the opportunity to go to Washington DC to present their project, which was the design of an air and space museum. The students used 3D modeling and room/space programing among other new construction technology methods to design their project and create their presentation.  

 About McCarthy
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest commercial construction companies. In addition to Newport Beach, McCarthy has offices in San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas; Houston; St. Louis and Atlanta. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.

With grand opening ceremonies in January 2012 and patient move-in accomplished smoothly on February 12, the 370,000-square-foot project included construction of a diagnostic and treatment (D&T) pavilion and two, three-level patient pavilions with a basement and a new main entrance. McCarthy also built a helipad for emergency air transportation atop the D&T Pavilion. Construction of the patient pavilions ensures the hospital’s compliance with Senate Bill 1953, which requires seismic upgrades for all acute care facilities, before the 2013 deadline.

Prior to beginning Phase 4 work, McCarthy built a new 28,476-square-foot Energy Center, two parking structures for employees and visitors with space for approximately 1,133 vehicles, and a culvert around the hospital to protect the surrounding neighborhood by reducing flood risk.

The new patient pavilions feature 164 private patient rooms, which will ultimately reach 304 private rooms after the final phase of construction and renovation is completed in 2017. The new hospital facilities also house state-of-the-art technology such as imaging services, wireless technology and minimally invasive and robotic surgical services.

Designed by Lee, Burkhart, Liu of Marina del Rey, Calif., the hospital’s award-winning architecture is both patient- and family-friendly and representative of the Spanish Colonial Revival style predominant in the Santa Barbara community. The facility combines inpatient and outpatient services in unique ways to provide a seamless continuum of care. The design focuses on creating a healing environment including therapeutic courtyards for staff, patients and visitors with numerous meditation areas and gardens including a “River of Life” flowing through the interior courtyard along with cloisters and art. Every patient room has a family area with furniture that converts to beds for overnight guests.

In keeping with the Spanish colonial design, the steel framed structure was built with clay tile roofs, broad expanses of rough plaster walls, ornamental iron balconies, vertical divided-light windows and pergolas. In counterpoint, all are connected for efficient circulation by a glazed spine corridor and lobbies with a contemporary flair.

“Creating a 21st century medical center that is housed within a historically accurate 17th century Spanish colonial architectural idiom presented unique design challenges, as did the requirement to reduce the scale of the medical center to conform to city height, mass and density mandates,” said Erich Burkhart, Principal-in-Charge at Lee, Burkhart, Liu. “These requirements led us to create a facility that incorporates nature in ways that enhance and speed the healing process. In addition, we were tasked with finding new methods of incorporating patient focused care within a hospitality oriented environment that makes family members an integral part of the healing process.”

Striking a balance between environmental stewardship and effective healthcare demands, the new facility was built and designed with sustainable features equivalent to U.S. Green Building Council LEED Silver certification standards. Some of the project’s eco-friendly features include the reuse of an existing urban site; erosion and sediment controls; maximum use of natural lighting; partial use of reclaimed water for irrigation and increased green space. Further environmentally sensitive highlights include: the use of sustainable new construction building materials and the reuse of building materials generated from the demolition of existing buildings; creation of bicycle rider facilities with lockers, storage, showers and riding lanes to encourage alternative commuting options; state-of-the-art mechanical and electrical and plumbing systems with monitoring and control programs to reduce energy consumption; energy efficient lamps and ballast; multi-switching controls for public lighting; use of Energy Star® compliant, highly reflective roofing; and provisions for robust recycling systems within the facility.

“Building on an operational medical campus is always a challenging undertaking,” said McCarthy project director John Birch. “At the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, we were building adjacent to the hospital Emergency Department and needed to tie all of our mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems into the existing facility. We were able to alleviate disruption to existing operations through proper planning, detailed scripting and close coordination with the hospital.

Further challenges entailed fairly limited site access for lay-down of materials which required strategic scheduling of construction work and deliveries. During the project’s peak, approximately 440 workers needed to access the site, so we provided off site parking and used vans and busses to minimize parking inconveniences and traffic during construction.”

To further aid in the construction process, the project team used Building Information Modeling (BIM) to create a 3D model of the project before construction began. The virtual model helped to detect and avoid any system clashes before construction began which saved time during the building process and enhanced the quality of construction. McCarthy created the 3D design of the facility using Autodesk Revit Architecture building design software and Autodesk NavisWorks software was used for clash detection. As-Builts and Operation Manuals were recorded in Bluebeam collaboration software and linked through the software including all modifications and changes to the design.

About McCarthy
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest commercial builders and has been ranked among the premier healthcare builders by Modern Healthcare since the magazine began its annual ranking more than 30 years ago. In addition to Newport Beach, McCarthy has offices in San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas; Houston; St. Louis and Atlanta. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at http://www.mccarthy.com/.

“Our new adventure began in an extremely difficult time for our nation, right after the events of September 11, 2001,” explained McCarthy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Bolen. “Despite the nation’s economic highs and lows over the past decade, employee ownership has literally transformed our company. We have experienced significant success on a wide variety of fronts, enabling us to deliver even higher quality projects on-time and on-budget. Moreover, with the addition of the ESOP, our employee owners now have an additional retirement benefit — an outstanding advantage from which all Americans could gain.”

A few notable McCarthy highlights during the past ten years include:

• Successfully streamlined processes and implemented industry-leading techniques to become one of the safest builders in America, improving safety results by more than 82 percent;
• Created MC Industrial, Inc., an independent McCarthy company, dedicated to meeting the highly specialized construction needs of the industrial marketplace;
• Developed and rolled out a multitude of technology innovations to enhance efficiencies in the field, ranking McCarthy among the top users of Building Information Modeling in the industry (Building Design & Construction Magazine, July 2011);
• Launched the innovative McCarthy Quality Without Question program, focusing on proactive planning for quality and tracking of quality incidents to improve company-wide performance;
• Tackled sustainability from the builder’s perspective, developing a unique in-house Green Training Curriculum and ranking us the 6 leading green builder (Building Design & Construction Magazine, July 2011);
• Developed and implemented the best-in-class McCarthy Build U^® employee-owner training and development program, ranking McCarthy #10 on the prestigious Training Magazine 125 list (February 2012);
• Implemented the award-winning McCarthy Build for Life wellness program, increasing the health and well-being of McCarthy’s employee-owners and families.

“As a self-performing builder, McCarthy has always been known for tackling the most complex construction challenges,” explained McCarthy President & Chief Operating Officer Derek Glanvill. “While many other contractors are selling out to owners overseas and moving away from performing their own work, our focus on hands-on building is even stronger than ever. We believe a true builder has a genuine command of the practice of building, better understanding how to balance schedule, cost, quality and safety so we can deliver the best final outcome. The past ten years have helped us show clients and partners the power of this approach.”

About S Corporation ESOPs
An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is a qualified defined contribution retirement plan that provides company workers with retirement savings through their investments in their employer’s stock, at no cost to the employee. ESOPs are regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) just like pension funds, 401(k) plans and other qualified retirement plans. In a 2010 Georgetown University/McDonough School of Business study, two leading tax economists reviewed the performance of a cross-section of S corporation ESOP companies during the recent recession. The study found that these companies performed better than other companies in creating jobs, economic activity and retirement security. For more information, visit www.esca.us.

About McCarthy
McCarthy Holdings, Inc., includes the consolidated results of its wholly owned subsidiaries McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. and MC Industrial, Inc. McCarthy was founded in 1864 as a lumber business focusing on constructing farmhouses and barns around Ann Arbor, Mich. Three of the founder’s children went into the family business, and in 1907, incorporated the firm in Missouri. Over the next 50 years, the company completed projects at the World’s Fair in San Francisco, in Alaska and in the Panama Canal Zone.

In 1976, Michael McCarthy became president of the company, and soon after McCarthy began its ascent to national prominence in healthcare construction management, as well as becoming the nation’s largest design-build parking structure builder. In 1984, Michael McCarthy assumed the position of chairman of the board and led McCarthy’s expansion into semiconductor, biopharmaceutical, educational, R&D and general manufacturing markets, with the company becoming a major player in each. 

In anticipation of the transition to 100 percent employee ownership, the McCarthy Employee Stock Ownership Plan was created in 1996. The company continued to expand, becoming a national leader in K-12 education, higher education, water services, industrial and federal construction. Today, McCarthy is one of the nation’s oldest and largest commercial builders (Engineering News-Record, May 2011). Repeatedly honored as a Best Place to Work, McCarthy has approximately 1,400 salaried employees with offices in St. Louis, Atlanta; Collinsville, Ill.; Portage, Ind.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas and Houston; Albuquerque; and San Diego, Newport Beach, San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.

“Achieving these significant construction milestones is a huge step forward as UC Merced continues to grow and expand its campus,” said Tim Albiani, McCarthy’s project director. “On Recreation Center North, the need was immediate and ‘value’ was essential. As such, McCarthy adopted a design-build project delivery method to streamline the overall delivery process and meet the needs of the students returning to school in the fall of 2012. We also have kept a clear focus on the environmental sustainability goals of the campus. It is exciting to see progress on projects that will provide much-needed academic and recreational space for the university’s growing enrollment.”

Both projects are part of a major expansion effort at UC Merced and adhere to its original campus charter to showcase environmentally responsible construction by planning and constructing one of the country’s most sustainable university campuses. As such, UC Merced is the first university campus in the nation to have all of its buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. The Science and Engineering Building 2 and Recreation Center North will seek to achieve LEED Platinum certification, the industry’s highest rating.

Science and Engineering Building 2 is a three-story laboratory and research building. It will house mechanical engineering, material science, computer science, environmental and bio-engineering spaces, as well as classrooms, faculty offices, administrative areas and a wind tunnel lab. The sustainable elements of the project include solar hot water and power generation that will act as part of a living laboratory of renewable energy education while also serving as a source of the building’s energy supply. The building’s interior features extensive use of recycled materials, such as carpets, ceiling tile, and reclaimed wood for special ceilings and wall panels, which also help prevent indoor air pollution. Smith Group JJR serves as the architect.

Recreation Center North, a significant ancillary building to the currently over-utilized Joseph Edward Gallo Recreation and Wellness Center, is scheduled for completion in late summer 2012. The approximately 21,000 square-foot facility will include cardio-vascular and workout studios, an Outdoor Adventures activities area, meeting rooms, training facilities and recreational and office spaces. Sustainable features include: energy performance at 50 percent of buildings of this type, sun shading to provide maximum daylighting with minimal solar gain, grass pavers for the fire lane integrated into the landscaping and drought tolerant planting comprised of mostly native or adaptive plants. The standing seam roof, plaster, glazing, metal screens and fins have been selected to compliment the surrounding campus context while maintaining high standards of sustainability. The architect is WRNS Studio.

About McCarthy
With nearly 150 years of experience, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest, privately held construction firms and one of California’s premier commercial builders. Committed to the construction of high performance buildings, the company provides general contracting, construction management, program management and design-build services for healthcare, educational, parking structure, entertainment, retail, laboratory, biotechnical, microelectronic, and industrial facilities; office buildings; tenant interiors; mixed-use; multifamily residential and bridges and highways. In addition to Sacramento and San Francisco, McCarthy has offices in Newport Beach and San Diego, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas; Houston; St. Louis and Atlanta. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at http://www.mccarthy.com/.

“The Calaveras County Courthouse will be constructed to accommodate the region’s current and future needs, improve service to the public and provide a more secure infrastructure,” said Matt Wade, McCarthy’s project director. “The new courthouse will contribute not only to the AOC’s goal of an improved court system statewide, but also specifically to the enhancement of court services and access offered to Calaveras County residents.”

The new courthouse will be located on a site north of the county government campus, adjacent to the site of a new county jail, to which it will be connected. The facility will replace the currently overcrowded Calaveras Courthouse as well as a leased modular building. The site will also include 278 surface parking spaces for court visitors and staff. The current project timeline estimates the courthouse will be open for public service in the fall of 2013.

The design for the courthouse consists of a two-story plan that reflects the building’s natural setting and minimizes its impact on the surrounding oak woodlands. The first floor will include jury assembly, clerk services and court offices organized around a natural light-filled, two-story entry lobby and great hall. The four courtrooms will be located on the second floor. DLR Group’s design has been recognized by the American Institute of Architects’ Academy of Architecture for Justice, receiving an award of merit in the 2010 Justice Facility Review.

“The new Calaveras County Courthouse will provide a significant improvement to the current cramped and dated facilities,” said Jon Anderson, DLR Group’s principal-in-charge. “The building itself will be a reflection of our modern times layered with elements of our past and gestures toward the Calaveras County region. Ultimately, the building will reflect the dignity and honor associated with courthouses.”

The design and building of the courthouse also includes an emphasis on sustainability. The building exceeds state requirements for energy efficiency by 20%, and is expected to earn LEED Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

About McCarthy
With nearly 150 years of experience, McCarthy is one of the nation’s oldest, privately held construction firms and one of California’s premier commercial builders. Committed to the construction of high performance buildings, the company provides general contracting, construction management, program management and design-build services for healthcare, educational, parking structure, entertainment, retail, laboratory, biotechnical, microelectronic, and industrial facilities; office buildings; tenant interiors; mixed-use; multifamily residential and bridges and highways. In addition to Sacramentoand San Francisco, McCarthy has offices in Newport Beachand San Diego, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas; Houston; St. Louisand Atlanta. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at http://www.mccarthy.com/.    

About DLR Group
DLR Group is an interdisciplinary design firm providing architecture, engineering, planning, and interior design from offices coast-to-coast and in China. Our promise is to elevate the human experience through design. This promise inspires sustainable design for a diverse group of public and private sector clients; local communities; and our planet. DLR Group fully supports the initiatives and goals of the 2030 Challenge and is an initial signatory to the AIA 2030 Commitment. Visit dlrgroup.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Throughout the construction process, all elements of the plant will remain operational and capable of producing A+ reclaimed water. The project will include expansion of the existing facilities by adding an expanded headworks facility, new aeration basins, new clarifiers, expansion of the filtration and flocculation facilities, as well as a new finished water reservoir.

In late 2009, McCarthy completed construction of the Phase II Chandler Airport Water Reclamation Facility Expansion project for the City of Chandler. This project expanded the facility’s liquid processing from 10 MGD to 15 MGD and included new equipment and reservoirs for the water reclamation distribution system and new processes in treating the 15 MGD of equivalent solids. The project received “Project of the Year” awards from the American Public Works Association and the Arizona Water Association.

“The city of Chandler has one of the most robust reclaimed water systems in the state,” said Frank Scopetti, vice president and business unit leader of McCarthy’s Water Services team. “We are looking forward to our role as Construction Manager at Risk on this project and to collaborating with city staff and Wilson Engineers, the project engineer, during the design stages to maximize cost savings suggestions and best value recommendations for the city.”

The anticipated construction schedule of phase III of the project is June 2012 to June 2014.

“McCarthy’s positive track record with earlier phases of this expansion project means they will have no learning curve,” said Kim Neill, Utility Operations Manager for the city of Chandler. “Their team of water project specialists offers expertise regarding constructability issues, MOPO planning and work sequencing, which will enable us to do more in-depth planning around the existing site constraints.”

About McCarthy
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s leading builders and has a diverse roster of heavy/civil projects across the country. The Water Services team offers general contracting, construction management, program management and design/build services for wastewater and water treatment projects in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. The team also covers construction projects in the mining, solar, nuclear and fossil fuels industries. The McCarthy Southwest Division is based in Tempe, Ariz. McCarthy also has offices in Newport Beach, San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco, Calif.; Las Vegas; Albuquerque; Dallas and Houston, Texas; St. Louis and Atlanta. McCarthy is 100 percent employee-owned.  More information about the company is available at http://www.mccarthy.com/

San Diego Community College District representatives, San Diego Mesa College faculty members, and project team members gathered recently to commemorate the milestone with a traditional topping out ceremony. 

“Students and faculty members can look forward to this being an exceptional facility, representing the largest and one of the most complex projects being built on the San Diego Mesa College campus with Proposition S and N construction bond funds,” said David Umstot, vice chancellor of facilities management for the San Diego Community College District. “Construction is going smoothly, and we’re on target for completion in August of next year.”

The $110 million Math and Science Building occupies the area immediately east of the existing Learning and Resource Building and south of the I-300 Building. McCarthy construction crews disassembled three older buildings on the site before breaking ground for the new facility in August of 2011. Construction has required careful monitoring and managing to minimize disruption to regular campus activities.

Designed by Architects | Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker, the new San Diego Mesa College Math and Science Building will provide new educational space for students pursuing degree and certificate programs in biology, chemistry, physical sciences and mathematics. The building will house four floors of classrooms, computer classrooms, and teaching lab classrooms, as well as faculty, staff and administrative support space. Specialized areas will include a greenhouse and an astronomy observation center.

The project team is targeting LEED Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.  All classrooms, teaching laboratories, and the majority of the staff offices will optimize the use of natural daylight. The windows will utilize high-performance, low “E” glazing that will allow natural daylight to enter the building, while rejecting unwanted ultraviolet and infrared light waves. This, in turn, will help reduce the amount of energy required to condition the building. The roofing construction will consist of a cool-roof material, which also will reflect unwanted energy and reduce the amount of energy consumed.

Consistent with sustainable design practices, many of the interior finishes at the new San Diego Mesa College Math and Science Building will be made from recycled material or rapidly renewable sources, such as bamboo. Construction waste is also being recycled.

According to McCarthy Project Director Robert Betz, the biggest challenge is the project’s location on a compact 200,000-square-foot site, right in the middle of the campus.

“Worker access and subcontractor deliveries are a major consideration of the project throughout the two-year build-out,” said Betz. “We’ve worked closely with the District to devise a plan that allows us to work within the site constraints without causing significant disruption to traffic and ongoing campus activities.”

The new Math and Science Building is being constructed with structural steel, concrete shear walls and an exterior curtain wall. The concrete work is scheduled to be complete in May, at which time glass and precast installation will begin along with construction of the building envelope.

The new instructional building is being funded by the $1.555 billion Propositions S and N construction bond program, which is providing for new teaching and learning facilities, major renovations and campus infrastructure projects at Mesa, City and Miramar colleges, and six continuing education campuses.

This is the third major project McCarthy has worked on at San Diego Mesa College on behalf of the San Diego Community College District. The company also built the new three-story, 50,000-square-foot Allied Health Building, which was completed in August of 2009 and awarded LEED Gold Certification by the USGBC. McCarthy also built the new the Miramar College parking structure and police substation, which was completed in August of 2011 and is expected to receive LEED Platinum Certification by the USGBC.

“The Math and Science Building is more technically complex than most construction projects; we awarded this project to McCarthy based on their extensive experience with laboratories and higher education construction projects,” said Umstot. “Based on their performance on the Allied Health Building and the Miramar College project, we feel we’re in good hands.”     

Project team consultants for the new San Diego Mesa College Math and Science Building include Hope Engineering for structural engineering, and EXP for mechanical and electrical engineering. Gafcon is the program manager for the Propositions S and N construction program on behalf of the San Diego Community College District.

About San Diego Mesa College
Among the largest community colleges in California and the nation, San Diego Mesa College is a fully accredited two-year college offering 160 Associate degree and certificate programs. Recognized in 2007 as one of the top 100 producers of associate degrees in the nation, Mesa College ranks as San Diego’s top transfer institution. The college also serves as an important economic catalyst for the region. Its career programs and industry alliances offer graduates almost immediate job placement in the fields of allied health, biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, business technology, consumer studies, and more. Other top specialized career programs include fashion, architecture, multimedia, animal health technology, American Sign Language, interior design, and hospitality and event management. More information is available online at http://www.sdmesa.edu/.

About McCarthy
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest commercial builders. The firm has been building in the education market for the last 50 years. Committed to the construction of high performance buildings, the company has managed construction or built more than 300 K-12 school projects nationwide, totaling more than $2 billion in construction value, and nearly 100 higher education projects on more than 50 campuses. In addition to San Diego, McCarthy has offices in Newport Beach, Sacramento and San Francisco, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; St. Louis; Dallas; Houston; and Atlanta. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned.  More information about the company is available online at http://www.mccarthy.com/.