The Bill Holmes Tower at CHOC Children's Hospital Wins Build America Award

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - March 20, 2014 - PRLog -- The Bill Holmes Tower at CHOC Children’s Hospital (http://www.choc.org/) recently received an Alliant Build America Award for Best New Building Project from the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America.   Representatives from McCarthy Building Companies (http://www.mccarthy.com/), who served as general contractor for the project, accepted the award earlier this month during the AGC of America’s annual convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.

   Considered by many to be the most prestigious recognition of construction accomplishments in the United States, the AGC Alliant Build America Awards highlight the nation’s most significant construction projects. A panel of judges, representing all areas of construction, evaluated the nominated projects' complexity, use of innovative construction techniques and client satisfaction, among other criteria.

   As a testament to the project’s success, the much anticipated pediatric patient tower was completed 64 days early, enabling children to receive advanced medical care in the new CHOC facility sooner than originally anticipated.  All of this was accomplished on a fully functioning hospital campus, while achieving an outstanding safety record and the highest levels of quality.

   The 425,524-square-foot Bill Holmes Tower, which opened in March 2013, boasts the region’s only dedicated pediatric operating rooms, emergency department, imaging department and laboratory.  Enhanced patient and family amenities feature an in-house multi-media center; pre-teen and teen rooms; patient outdoor play area; café and outdoor garden; family resource center; and meditation and prayer center.

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 (http://www.mccarthy.com/) of Newport Beach 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.

   The project team developed a variety of innovative solutions to overcome a multitude of challenges on this complex, technologically advanced project. Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology in conjunction with design-assist delivery was used during the project’s design phase to coordinate the tower’s intricate drawings for MEP and other related systems.

   FKP Architects (http://www.fkp.com/) of Houston, Texas was the design architect and architect of record and WBSA (http://wbsarch.com/) (Wood, Burghard & Swain Architects) of Irvine was the construction administration and associate architect for the Bill Holmes Tower. Other project consultants include: Jacobs of Cypress, Calif., Construction Manager; Thomsen Engineering of Industry, Calif., Civil Engineer; and TMAD Taylor & Gaines of Pasadena, Calif., Structural and MEP Engineer.

About McCarthy

Recognized as one of the nation’s few true builders, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is the largest general building contractor and the largest healthcare and education facilities builder in California (ENR California, August 2013).  The company is committed to the construction of high performance green (http://www.mccarthy.com/about/green) buildings; progressive jobsite technology; and safer, faster and more cost-effective execution. In addition to Newport Beach, McCarthy has offices in San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Albuquerque; St. Louis; Collinsville, Ill.; Kansas City; Dallas; Houston and Atlanta. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned.  More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.