McCarthy Projects Receive CMAA Achievement Awards

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. — The Construction Management Association of America (Southern California Chapter recently awarded Project Achievement Awards to four McCarthy Building Company projects. The awards were presented at CMAA's 20th Annual Awards Banquet in Los Angeles, Calif. to the firms responsible for managing the construction process of each respective project. The purpose of this industry award is to recognize and promote professionalism and excellence in the management of the construction process. Awards are given to the projects that best reflect this mission.

The McCarthy projects that were honored by the CMAA include : Soka University Performing Arts Center and Associated Academic Facility; John Wayne Airport Terminal C; Westminster Police Department Headquarters and Methodist Hospital of Southern California's new North Tower and Central Utility Plant upgrade.

Among the award winning projects is Soka University of America's new Soka Performing Arts Center and Academic Building project. The new center, which opened in September 2011, is located on 1.9 acres of the Soka University campus in Aliso Viejo, Calif. The LEED Gold-certified project serves as a venue in South Orange County for concerts, theater productions, lectures and assemblies, furthering Soka University's role as a cultural center and community gathering place. McCarthy Building Companies served as construction manager for the project. Other project team members included R.W. Buck and Associates, program manager; Zimmer Gunsul Frasca, architect; JAMA of Los Angeles, structural engineer; RBF of Irvine, civil engineer; Syska of Los Angeles, electrical and mechanical engineer; and SWA of Laguna Beach, landscape architect.

John Wayne Airport's new Terminal C, which opened to passengers on November 2011, also received a CMAA award. The new terminal increases JWA's capacity from 8.4 million annual passengers to 10.8 million. It also provides the airport with the ability to operate international flights. Other project team members included: Parsons, program manager; McCarthy Building Companies, general contractor; Gensler, architect; Jacobs, civil & MEP engineer; and IDS Group, structural engineer.

Griffin Structures received the CMAA award for the $65 million (development cost) Westminster Police Department Headquarters project. The project entailed construction of a 91,000-square-foot police building housing an upgraded 911 communications center, a new forensic lab, increased evidence storage capacity, an Emergency Operations Center, a Type I jail facility and administrative work space. Griffin Structures was program manager and McCarthy served as construction manager for the LEED Silver Certified police headquarters which was completed in May 2011. AECOM of Orange, Calif. was the architect for the facility.

McCarthy's fourth award winning project is the new north tower and central plant upgrade at Methodist Hospital of Southern California. Jacobs, who served as construction manager for the project, received the CMAA award. Although this was a complex and challenging project, it was completed approximately two months ahead of schedule and several million dollars under budget. The $140-million project, which opened in September 2011, included construction of a 154,486-square-foot patient tower on the existing 127-acre Methodist Hospital campus. Comprised of five levels plus a basement, the new tower features the Hollfelder Emergency Care Center and a main entrance on the first floor; a 20-bed ICU and pharmacy on the second floor; identically designed units on the top three floors with 40 medical/surgical beds each; and a new kitchen, dining area and support services on the basement level for patient, visitor and staff dining. The new building's basement is connected to the existing building by a 90-foot long tunnel constructed beneath an operational emergency department. Inside, the tower drastically increases the hospital's capabilities, both in terms of technological ability and size—the number of emergency department beds has increased approximately 65 percent, and the intensive care unit is one-third larger. The program also included the seismic upgrade of the existing central plant to ensure structural compliance with SB 1953 through 2030. The equipment upgrades included adding two emergency generators and a replacement chiller to serve the new patient tower. NTD Architecture was the project architect; McCarthy Building Companies was the general contractor; TMAD Taylor & Gaines was the structural engineer; JT Engineering was the civil engineer; M E Engineers was the mechanical engineer and N.A. Cohen Group Inc. was the MEP engineer.