McCarthy Building Companies Completes Construction of CHOC New Bill Holmes Tower

ORANGE, Calif.— Construction is complete on a seven-story patient care tower at CHOC Children’s Hospital in Orange County, Calif., offering a bright new pediatric hospital to help children heal and feel more at ease when ill or injured and need specialized medical attention. Specifically designed for the care of children, the new 425,524-square-foot patient tower will provide leading-edge technology and advanced programs and services in a child-friendly, healing environment when it officialy opens in late March 2013.

Built to serve the expanding needs of the region, the new tower is located on the south side of the existing CHOC Children’s hospital site. McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. served as general contractor for the project, which included construction of a seven—level patient tower plus a basement, as well as a penthouse chiller room and helistop. Prior to construction, an office building and two-level parking structure were removed to make way for the new tower.

McCarthy also renovated 50,000 square feet of the existing facility and supporting central plant components in the basement of the existing CHOC North Tower. This portion of work was completed in November 2011.

The tower includes the region’s only dedicated pediatric operating rooms, emergency department, imaging department and laboratory. Enhanced patient and family amenities include Seacrest Studios, an in-house broadcast multi-media center; pre-teen and teen rooms; patient outdoor play area; café and outdoor garden; family resource center and meditation and prayer center.

“Building Information Modeling technology, in conjunction with the design-assist delivery method, were used early in the design phases of the CHOC Children’s project to coordinate the tower’s intricate drawings for the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and other related systems,” said McCarthy Project Director Max Burcham. “This coordination effort greatly reduced above-ceiling conflicts prior to construction and ensured that the systems were being installed in a timely manner and met all quality standards.”

“By using design-assist delivery and incorporating BIM technology, McCarthy and its team of subcontractors identified several critical discrepancies that could have been detrimental to maintaining the project schedule,” said Waldo Romero, CHOC Children’s vice president, facilities, design and construction. “Through this proactive approach, the project team was able to mitigate these discrepancies before construction began, ultimately beating the schedule and allowing CHOC to open its doors sooner to care for the children of our community.”

Another key aspect to the project’s early completion was the development of a phased construction schedule that took a great deal of coordination and planning with the project team and the hospital in order to implement the plan and minimize disruption to the existing hospital. “In July 2011, McCarthy put the six-phased plan in place enabling CHOC to open the new main entrance with access to the existing north tower in September 2012,” explained Pete Plaza, McCarthy’s MEP manager. “The remainder of the new tower was completed by October 29 — approximately two months ahead of schedule.”

FKP Architects is the design architect and architect of record and Wood, Burghard & Swain Architects is the construction administration and associate architect. The design team gathered valuable input from parent and youth advisory councils comprised of current and former patients, as well as physicians and staff to ensure that the new environment met their distinctive needs.

As a result of this initial design research, the new tower boasts a visually stimulating exterior highlighted by a multi-colored glass skin, accented with colorful metal panels and a vertical beacon. The exterior façade transforms at night providing a playful change in appearance.

In the building’s interior, the public spaces are infused with fun and excitement while patient floors are more subdued, creating a peaceful healing environment. Organized and consolidated for optimum efficiency, the diagnostic and treatment areas are planned around flexible room concepts that can adapt to future technologies and changes in treatment techniques.

Playful design elements such as wayfinding features in the terrazzo flooring at the elevator lobbies are incorporated in the hospital’s child-friendly interiors. Utilizing a nature theme, each level has its own flooring design element starting with earth and fossils at the basement and then changing to ocean and sea-life; beach and shells; insects and flowers; reptiles and vegetation; sky and birds; solar system and planets; and finally space, stars and constellations in the elevator lobby flooring of the top level.

To support the hospital’s expansive safety initiatives that reach beyond those traditional to healthcare, the patient, exam and procedure rooms were designed with common standardized components and layouts. As an additional safety feature, new operational logistics were integrated into the design for laboratory specimen collecting and processing, medication preparation and delivery and material stocking and distribution, increasing staff efficiency and decreasing time away from patients.

In response to the community and regional environment, the building incorporates environmental health principles and sustainable building guidelines as recognized by the Green Guide for Healthcare, U.S. Green Building Council and state of California energy mandates. During construction, McCarthy minimized unrecyclable construction waste, maintained proper indoor air quality, filtered stormwater/runoff and ensured subcontractors installed the specified “green” materials.

Sun/shadow studies and site lighting studies were utilized to provide an eco-efficient design. Some of the building’s sustainable features include : recyclable materials; low-emitting insulating exterior glass panels; light colored skin materials; green roofing; insulation isolation of skin materials; ozone protection/refrigerant selection; abundant use and optimization of natural light; increasing green space with healing gardens; low-emitting interior materials such as floor, wall and ceiling finishes; energy management technology; water-efficient landscaping and irrigation management.

Other project consultants include : Jacobs, construction manager; Thomsen Engineering, civil engineer; TMAD Taylor & Gaines, structural engineer and TMAD Taylor & Gaines, MEP, commissioning engineer. Major subcontractors involved in the design/assist process include : Bergelectric, PPMC (Pan Pacific Murray Co. a Joint Venture), Caparelli-KHS&S, Tower Glass and Schuff Steel.