SAN DIEGO-McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. has completed constructionof the new 279,000-square-foot Rady Childrens Hospital Acute CarePavilion, located at 3020 Childrens Way in the Kearny Mesa area ofSan Diego. Designed by the San Francisco office of Anshen+Allen,the new $260 million Acute Care Pavilion is the first acute carefacility in the state to meet the standards for quality and safetymandated by the Office of Statewide Health Planning andDevelopment, while also achieving the level of occupant health andenvironmental sustainability required to earn LEED-Certifiedstatus, according to a prepared statement.

The facility will be equipped and staffed to receive patients onOct. 10, 2010. “Construction oversight of OSHPD facilities adds aheightened level of complexity to already complicated healthcareconstruction projects in California, based on the states strictcriteria for passing project inspections, reviews and approvals,”says Dan Stone of CCQA Inc., inspector-of-record for theproject.

OSHPD oversight of California hospitals stems from the 1971Sylmar earthquake, which caused several hospitals to collapse, andhampered the hospitals ability to provide emergency care to theinjured. In 1973 the state of California passed the Alfred E.Alquist Hospital Seismic Safety Act and, ever since, constructionof acute care and psychiatric hospitals, as well as multi-storyskilled nursing homes and intermediate care facilities, in thestate has been governed by this legislation. The standards not onlyhelp enforce patient safety during the earthquake, but also ensurethat facilities can continue to function and care for the injuredfollowing earthquakes, according to the release.