McCarthy Building Companies, a Southern California builders of parking structures, has begun construction on the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital parking structure, located on the hospital’s 1.9-acre site in Santa Clarita, CA. Designed by Irvine-based Choate Parking Consultants, the $10.1 million parking facility is the first major component of a 15-year master plan for the overall campus. The 244,135-SF, five-level structure will house parking for 750 cars, and includes a rooftop helipad. Completion is scheduled for April 2011.
“Because the parking structure is being constructed within a heavily trafficked area, we will be coordinating our construction traffic operations with hospital facilities personnel and the governing agencies. This will allow the construction process to move forward with minimal impact on the campus operations,” said Alan Carroll, executive vice president of McCarthy’s parking division.
Since the freestanding, two-bay structure is being constructed in an active parking area and on an operating hospital campus, adjustments were required to accommodate the busy location. McCarthy is using temporary road closures and barricades to allow activity to continue on the three surrounding sides and major thoroughfare. The main entrance of the hospital is near a heavily traveled road and all other roads surrounding the hospital are still active. McCarthy also made adjustments to ensure that all of their construction deliveries were made during non-peak traffic hours.
“Building a project of this magnitude within a busy hospital setting must be carefully orchestrated,” said Stacey Pray, AIA, ACHA, CASp, principal of SHP Project Development, the construction management firm for the project. “McCarthy has been able to keep the site clean, and work within busy traffic patterns – both of which make running a construction project challenging, yet we are right on schedule.”
The parking structure is constructed with post-tensioned, cast-in-place concrete decks and shear walls. The structure will also include three elevators, one of which is specifically designed to serve as a trauma elevator. The temporary rooftop helipad will service the existing trauma center until the permanent helipad is constructed as part of the new patient tower. The project also includes landscaping in the front of the structure, painted concrete exteriors with green screen and several other architectural features.