LA JOLLA, CA—Construction has wrapped up at the new 383,000-square-foot Prebys Cardiovascular Institute and adjacent 26,000-square-foot central energy plant on the Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla campus. The $456 million project began in May 2011, with McCarthy Building Companies serving as design-assist general contractor. The health system will begin treating patients at the new facility in mid-March.

HOK Architects was the project architect. Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. served as the construction management firm on behalf of Scripps Health.

“This is an exciting achievement for us,” said Scripps Health corporate vice president, construction and facilities, Bruce Rainey. “The new Prebys Cardiovascular Institute reflects the most advanced healthcare design principles together with remarkably high standards of construction. It stands as a model not only for future Scripps facilities, but also for specialized heart care facilities across the country.”

The Prebys Cardiovascular Institute is the cornerstone of a 25-year master plan unveiled in November 2010 that is transforming the Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla campus.

The new facility will be a destination hospital for cardiac care on the West Coast. It will provide cardiovascular patients with the most advanced treatment options available, while also serving as a center for medical research, clinical trials and graduate medical education.

The seven-story, steel-framed tower encompasses 10 levels, including a basement, intermediate mechanical level and rooftop mechanical level. The exterior of the signature, curved tower utilizes brick, window curtain wall and cream-colored metal panel systems.

The building will accommodate 59 beds on two ICU levels, 108 beds on three medical surgical levels, six state-of-the-art cardiovascular and two hybrid operating rooms, and three cardiac catheterization labs. A corridor connects the basement and ground levels to the existing hospital.

The first floor encompasses the lobby and shell space for the future build-out of a new emergency department, which McCarthy is currently performing design-build services on with HOK. The second floor houses operating and pre-op rooms, the third and fourth floors accommodate ICU patient rooms and isolation rooms, and floors five through seven house surgery patient rooms. The lower floor houses sterilization rooms.

Located 1,600 feet away, the new central energy plant is a cast-in-place concrete structure encompassing three levels, with two of the levels located below grade. It will provide air conditioning, heating, medical gas, steam, fuel storage, fresh-water holding, and emergency generators for the new cardiovascular facility and eventually the entire hospital campus.

“The building design incorporates numerous sustainable design principles and was developed with considerable input from physicians, nurses and clinical staff to ensure efficiencies that will foster exceptional care in a safe, comforting environment,” said McCarthy project director Steve Van Dyke. “Close, consistent communication between project team members throughout the course of construction was key to the ultimate success of this project, with the architect, project inspector and McCarthy's project team all based onsite the entire construction duration.”

Six cardiovascular surgery and hybrid operating rooms with charting areas and intervention labs were built to accommodate the most advanced equipment in the industry, provided by three different manufacturers. This required varied and exact mechanical and plumbing systems in each surgery room.

Lean construction principles played into the prefabricated head walls and handwashing sinks in the patient rooms, intensive care units and prep/recovery rooms. The nurse stations were also prefabricated and use modular casework topped with prefabricated Corian countertops.

Private patient rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows. The rooms have comfortable, pullout couches for overnight stays by loved ones, as well as flat-screen televisions and wireless Internet access.

Computerized room-level observation stations, a decentralized medication dispensing process, and decentralized nurse stations will allow caregivers to closely monitor patients and facilitate communication with family members.

KPFF, Inc., was the structural and civil engineer; exp was the mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer; and MWPA was the landscape architect. Subcontractors included Tower Glass for glass, glazing and sheet metal fabrication and installation; Bergelectric for electrical; A.O. Reed & Company, mechanical and plumbing; Williams & Sons Masonry, Inc., masonry; Schuff Steel Company, structural steel; Arrowwoods Works, Inc., finish carpentry and casework; and Howard's Rug Company for floor coverings. Valley Crest Landscape Development, Inc., performed landscape, irrigation, site concrete and outdoor furniture installation. McCarthy self-performed all the structural concrete work.

The institute's namesake is real estate developer Conrad Prebys, a longtime philanthropist who contributed $45 million to Scripps in 2011 for this project.

San Diego-based McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. has been building communities across America for more than 150 years. The firm has approximately 1,600 salaried employees with offices in San Diego, Newport Beach, San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas and Houston, Texas; Albuquerque; St. Louis; Atlanta; Collinsville, Ill.; Portage, Ind.; and Kansas City, Kan. McCarthy is 100% employee-owned.