“The goal was to replace the majority of the disciplines that were in the existing hospital,” said Stephen Powell, consultant for KLMK Group, which served as the project manager. “Instead of renovating, we decided to replace units, as well as add a cardiovascular unit that the hospital did not have.”

In addition to KLMK Group, the project team consisted of Hoar Construction in partnership with BE&K as construction managers and HKS Inc. in partnership with Giattina Aycock Studio as architects. All companies have offices in Birmingham, except for HKS Inc., which has an office in Atlanta.

The project consisted of several sustainability initiatives that stood out in the design. For instance, the building’s large glass windows let in natural light to all patient rooms, waiting rooms and staff break rooms. The rooftop garden is planted with sedum, a low-maintenance, heat-tolerant ground cover native to the area. It reduces heat absorption and stormwater runoff, and it is very visible from the patient tower. The landscaping also includes a variety of plants that are indigenous to the area.

“I think that the main difference in building LEED is that you have an understanding of the impact on the tenants, and you can be a little more innovative in the thought process in terms of how you’re going to design it,” Powell said.

Another green building standout was the way the hospital now reuses water for landscaping and in the chilled water plant. Up to 30,000 gallons of condensate are collected from the building’s air conditioning system to be used for irrigation and also to cool equipment. A designated green space on the hospital’s campus includes a water feature for children to play in, as well as 140 bicycle racks. Several features of the expansion included using recycled and reused building materials salvaged from the demolition of two outdated buildings that were previously situated on the site.

The biggest challenge on the project was coming out of the ground because there were problems with the soil, but Powell said the team made up a lot of time by reorganizing tasks.

“Overall, it was a very efficient project and they were able to save time and money,” he said. “The biggest thing I learned is that there’s a lot of good contractors out there that are already doing things sustainably. I’m looking to have some form of sustainable construction in all health care projects and trying to look for opportunities to do that as much as possible.”

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The four-story, 199,000-square-foot hospital was designed by HKS Inc., headquartered in Dallas, and constructed by McCarthy Building Companies Inc., with offices in St. Louis. Even with an aggressive construction schedule, the project was substantially completed five weeks ahead of schedule with some areas completed as early as eight weeks ahead of schedule.

“Each month we focused on the critical path of the schedule and then we would create detailed work plans on different ways to pick up days through either phasing or working additional crews or working selected additional hours,” said Jared Hites, senior project manager with McCarthy.

The project utilized field technologies to keep the project on schedule and to identify any trouble areas early. Field technologies used in this project included BIM 360 Field, electronic document management, field tablets, an on-site information kiosk, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing robotics.

“We used all the latest technology from 100 percent electronic documents that were hyperlinked and posted electronically through BIM 360 Field, which is a software system that allows us to utilize our field tablets to perform a lot of our field management tasks — not only for the subcontractors at McCarthy but also for the owners, the architects and the engineers,” Hites said.

The BIM 360 Field coordination process allowed the contractors to realize prefab opportunities to keep up with the speedy time frame of the complex project. The building was fast and concurrent with design progression and completion, Hites said.

“The designers would design the foundation and frame portion and we’d get started on that while they were still designing the exterior portion and the interior,” Hites said. “The design and construction really overlapped similar to any fast-tracked project.”

The new hospital includes 10 operating rooms, 48 inpatient beds, a clinic, café and retail pharmacy. The project employed approximately 2,000 people from the time it broke ground in summer 2011, which provided a boost to the local economy. Hites commented that it is always a priority for McCarthy to hire locally when possible.

“It’s important for us, when we come into these communities, to be a good community builder and to utilize as much local participation related to subcontractors, vendors and trade workers,” Hites said. “Ultimately, they are the people that are going to be using the hospital.”

Local contractors performed approximately 93 percent of the subcontracted work for the project. This was a beneficial choice economically, but was also beneficial in terms of scheduling and the high quality of subcontractors in the local area, Hites said.

“Fortunately, the Springfield area has a vast supply of qualified vendors, subcontractors and trade workers, so we were able to accomplish that and be a good community builder,” Hites said.

It was crucial to create early and contiguous detailed work plans with full understanding from the team, from owners to contractors, in a project of this timing and complexity, Hites said.

“Having those detailed work plans was very valuable and that result was completing the project ahead of schedule, under budget and with the highest quality,” Hites said.

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The 500,000-square-foot multilevel hospital is set on 70 acres on Camp Pendleton in Southern California. It is the Navy’s largest American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) project. It will provide medical services for surgery, patient overnight stays, dental care, intensive care, and general medical and emergency care. It will include a central utilities plant, a 1,500-space multilevel parking structure (with an additional 1,000 spaces outside the structure) and site development. The contract requires that the project achieve LEED Gold certification.

The new facility will replace the existing naval hospital on Camp Pendleton. The main goal of this project was to provide a facility that meets all of the latest seismic requirements, said Commander Dude Underwood, resident officer in charge of construction for the project.

The project team consists of HKS Inc. as the architect and a joint venture between Clark Construction Group and McCarthy Building Companies as the construction manager. All three companies have offices in San Diego nearby Camp Pendleton.

The $446 million design-build contract, awarded to the Clark-McCarthy team, required an aggressive timeline from conception to final commissioning of the hospital because the delivery method allowed the project team to start construction without having every detail of the design completed, said Carlos Gonzalez, project director for the Clark-McCarthy joint venture project. The contract also included planned modifications for furnishings, fixtures and equipment. Gonzalez said it is rare to have the same entity complete both for a project of this kind.

While the design-build delivery method allowed for efficiencies, the time limit on the project also served as a challenge. Because the project was funded by the ARRA, the project’s funding came with an expiration, so the project team had a specific window of time to get the project done.

“We needed to organize our design so that we could start construction as early as possible,” Gonzalez said. “What we did was create six separate packages and organize them in terms of a time and research standpoint.”

Another challenge was the project requirement to benefit the local economy. That meant that 45 percent of the subcontracts had to be awarded to small businesses. The project met and exceeded that goal, delivering more than 75 percent of small business participation, Gonzalez said.

Underwood said the northwest corner of the building stands out the most in terms of design. “The building was essentially opened up by taking this portion of the building and pulling it away from the rest, creating a crown above it with a reflecting metal surface.”

Gonzalez added that he agrees this section will become iconic for the hospital. He also said that the location of the facility, situated along Interstate 5, gives the building a prominent display.

Both Underwood and Gonzalez also agreed that the safety record on the project has been significant for the team. Gonzalez said that so far the team has completed 2.6 million hours with zero lost-time incidents.

The connection between the project team and the mission of the project was another key factor for all of the workers involved. “It’s inescapable to all of us — the connection of what we’re doing in building a health care facility to treat the men and women in uniform, including wounded warriors, and their dependents,” Underwood said. “As I make my way around the site, I talk to those involved in construction, and they all are immediately aware of the reason and benefit of doing it well.”

Gonzalez added that the mission allowed for them to have better success in terms of meeting the safety, quality and schedule goals. “When you can look at the workers in the eye and say, ‘The sooner you finish, the sooner wounded warriors can be treated and every dollar you saved is a tax dollar that doesn’t have to be spent,’ it actually makes a difference and allows us to engage them on a much more personal level,” he said.

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