SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 28, 2015 – From San Francisco to San Diego, six of McCarthy Building Companies Inc.’s newly completed California structures were declared among the Best Projects of 2015. Featured in the December issue of Engineering News-Record California (ENR California), the publication recognized three Northern and three Southern California projects, highlighting the company’s excellence in constructing a diverse range of high-performance commercial and public projects. The projects and their industry categories include:
- Central Utility Plant at Los Angeles International Airport – Energy/Industrial Best Project
- La Escuelita Educational Center – K-12 Education Award of Merit
- Solar Energy Research Center (Chu Hall) – Higher Education Best Project
- Orange County Water District Ground Water Replenishment – Water/Environment Best Project
- San Andreas Courthouse – Government Award of Merit
- Scripps Memorial Hospital Prebys Cardiovascular Institute – Health Care Award of Merit
“We had a very successful year building facilities that serve a critical function for our clients and communities throughout the state – and ENR California’s recognition showcases the breadth and depth of our expertise spanning virtually all commercial and public industry sectors, including education, health care, government, energy, R&D, transportation, utility and water treatment,” said Randy Highland, president of McCarthy’s California Region. “The success of these projects stems from our focus on listening to our clients and working collaboratively with them at the project’s onset and throughout construction. Our number one goal is to achieve client satisfaction, and ensure a strong project outcome for all our project partners.”
The ENR California Best Projects Awards 2015 are presented to celebrate and honor the building teams that created the best projects this year. The winning projects spanning California and Hawaii were chosen by a panel of industry peers and expert professionals. Categories awarded cover a variety of building and highway/heavy categories. ENR also presents this awards program in regions spanning all of the U.S., and in total, McCarthy had 10 projects nationwide that received Best Projects Awards for 2015.
About the Projects
The Central Utility Plant at Los Angeles International Airport is considered the first sustainable utility plant to be built at a U.S. airport. Clark/McCarthy, a joint venture between Clark Construction Group and McCarthy, oversaw the construction of the four-story, 75,000-sq-ft steel-framed structure, which is estimated to save the airport more than $7 million in annual electrical and natural gas costs. Project features and processes include placement of approximately 18 miles of pipe and duct bank, as well as several miles of new distribution piping throughout nearby airport terminals.
In a joint venture with Oakland-based Turner Group Construction for the Oakland Unified School District, La Escuelita Educational Center consists of two new buildings, the Met West High School and Child Development Center. Totaling 55,655 square feet, the three-phase project included the demolition of two existing buildings, site clearing, soil remediation, building erection, parking lot with a covered photovoltaic structure, landscaping, bioswales, rain harvesting systems, a soccer field and site furnishings. The project was delivered two months early after successfully implementing Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology during the construction process.
Nestled in the hills of Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab) Solar Energy Research Center, named Chu Hall, is a 40,000-square-foot, three-story facility comprised of laboratories, offices and interactive spaces devoted to researching, developing and supporting the most advanced research methods in the solar energy field. The project team’s use of BIM and laser scanning helped achieve optimal precision for floor levelness to accommodate the high-tech equipment used for scientific research. Targeting LEED-Gold certification, the structure consists of renewable and recycled materials, including a green roof and an energy efficient water waste system.
The Orange County Water District Ground Water Replenishment System is considered the world’s largest wastewater purification facility of its kind, treating up to 100 million gallons of wastewater per day. The project scope consisted of an expansion and modernization of the original 30-million-gpd plant, updating an existing microfiltration facility and adding eight new below-grade treatment basins. McCarthy also constructed a new 32,000-sq-ft reverse osmosis building and above ground steel tanks, and added energy recovery devices to the system. In light of the state’s ongoing drought, McCarthy worked with the client to ensure the older facility remained fully operational during the expansion.
The Superior Court of California’s San Andreas Courthouse for the County of Calaveras is a celebrated iconic structure in the region, representing democracy and a place of importance in the local community.The facility’s design deviates from the typical stark government facility and instead reflects the area’s natural surroundings, boasting much of its architecture, materials and finishes from the geological outcroppings and oak woodlands. Recently certified LEED-Gold, the project team used BIM to carefully analyze the exterior high-performance design for solar performance, reconfigured a connecting tunnel from an adjacent courthouse, and repurposed uncompacted soil for site grading and drainage.
Scripps Prebys Cardiovascular Institute, a nine-story, 366,778-sqare-foot addition to the Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, represents one of the highest brick buildings built in San Diego in the past 15 years. The new building provides 108 additional single-patient rooms, 59 intensive care rooms, six operating rooms and four interventional labs. McCarthy oversaw the creation of multiple functional design features, including a rooftop garden and central utility plant. The project team’s use of BIM technology brought forth optimal precision during concrete pour cycles and the completion of the exterior skin.
About McCarthy
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. has been building communities across America for more than 150 years, delivering certainty for clients in a diverse range of markets. Throughout all phases of a project, from early integrated design phase services, through construction and after completion, McCarthy builders utilize industry-leading construction techniques and the most sophisticated technology tools to deliver the highest quality, job-site safety and ultimately, the best value. Repeatedly honored as a Best Place to Work and Healthiest Employer, McCarthy is ranked the 12th largest domestic general contractor (Engineering News-Record, September 2015). The firm has approximately 1,600 salaried employees with offices in St. Louis, Atlanta; Collinsville, Ill.; Portage, Ind.; Kansas City, Kan.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas, Houston; Albuquerque; and San Diego, Newport Beach, San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento, Calif. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at the website or by following the company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
