The school relied upon DPR's reputation for delivering projects “on schedule” in order to open in the fall for its first class of students. To accomplish this task, DPR utilized a fast-track, design/build delivery system to construct four buildings in nine months for completion of the first phase. Despite incomplete design drawings, weather conditions and extremely difficult site work, DPR successfully met the September 1 deadline.

The second phase, consisting of the main administration building and kitchen and a classroom building, was fenced off and constructed during the school year. The total square footage for all 6 two-story classroom buildings is 152,474.

Achieving this milestone was all the more notable in light of the highly challenging and intensive journey the team faced when it took over the construction management (CM) of the $660-million (construction cost) project in 2008, after construction had already begun in 2007. Even with reshaping the construction process midstream the team met the critical target date for delivering this landmark healthcare facility, which opened to the public in August.

Designed by CO Architects, and dubbed the “hospital of the future” for its many cutting-edge features, the 740,000-sq.-ft., 11-story Palomar Medical Center accommodates up to 360 patient beds, 12 operating rooms, a 50-room trauma center, a 60,000-sq.-ft. undulating green roof and a 40,000-sq.-ft. central plant, among other features. The hospital incorporates many sustainable design principles and reflects the owner’s commitment to creating not only a healing environment for patients, but one that also supports the well-being of the staff through features such as skylights and light wells that deliver natural lighting into employee-only spaces.

The team made a midstream shift to a hybrid integrated project delivery model and kicked of the process with a series of meetings between the owner, Palomar Health, the architect and engineering team, an outside facilitator, Lou Bainbridge, and key trade contractors to align goals and expectations and establish a high-performance team to focus on continuous improvement and project/team success.

Spanning 15 months, the projects featured installation of a new 32-ton chiller in the central plant; the complete mechanical system remodel of a 40,000-sq.-ft., 99-bed skilled-nursing facility; and construction of a new 32,000-sq.-ft. special care assisted-living facility consisting of 18 apartments.

Frequent communication and extra measures taken by the team and owner helped to nurture a well-informed resident base and keep the seniors up-to-date regarding the changes going on around them. DPR held weekly meetings with 20-25 resident representatives who served as a conduit for questions to and from the community. In addition, holes punched in the project's barricades (both at walking and wheelchair height) and streamed real-time footage made available through the community's website web-cam allowed project viewing both personally and remotely.

The structure includes a skilled nursing care facility on the east end, with more than 100 residential units stepping down toward the ocean. The center was built on five separate levels and covers 223,000 sq. ft. Four elevators were installed, each rising from the below-grade parking garage to the top floor of the nursing facility.

The west end of the facility opens on to a central courtyard overlooked by a curved patio that runs toward the ocean between flanking residential units. This luxurious community includes a swimming pool with adjustable current, computer room, high-end finishes throughout such as granite, custom woodwork, and plush carpeting.

DPR also constructed a separate complex with six additional premium apartments on a bluff leading down to the ocean. This site, just across the street from the present complex, required more complex underpinnings, including foundation piers buried in the ocean bedrock.

One of the greatest challenges of the project was that the tenant improvements were being completed concurrently with the shell construction by another general contractor, which created sequencing, staging, and manpower conflicts throughout the project. In spite of this, the team still met the aggressive six month schedule.

The campus includes a full service Kitchen, Servery, and Dining Area, Fitness Center, Learning and Development Center, Game Room and Usability Labs. The design includes 110 “neighborhoods”, which include media walls with 65” plasma screens for employee collaboration.

DPR constructed the sixteen floors of tenant improvements in under 10 months; DPR's scope of work occurred concurrently with the site work and parking garage scope of work being performed by another contractor. This included early delivery of the Central Server Suite and Building Four. DPR peaked at over 300 tradesmen on this fast track project.

The DPR team implemented progressive approaches to reduce the environmental footprint of the project. Environmentally friendly and sustainable materials, such as recycled carpeting and laminated bamboo paneling were installed. The campus also utilized low-emitting adhesives, paints and sealants as well as low-flow plumbing fixtures and energy-efficient lighting systems. Emerging off-site recycling facilities that accept drywall, lumber, metal and paper enabled DPR to divert more than 60% of the construction waste from the landfill.

DPR's Project Manager, Whitney Dorn said integrating and tracking sustainable concepts and green products into the new campus was a manageable process: “It is only difficult when the entire team is not on board. When the stakeholders, including designers, subcontractors, owner, and consultants, understand and support the sustainable goals of the project, it creates a pathway for success.

With this project, Intuit reached the standard set by the U.S. Green Building Council for green buildings - the company achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Gold Certification for Commercial Interiors.

In addition, the project expects to pay for any “premium” costs associated with LEED® in less than seven years in energy and water savings. According to Dorn, this is a conservative estimate. The cost benefit projections for electricity don't include what will most likely be large increases in energy costs in the next few years.

"In the future, I expect that every building will be designed and built similar to the process we followed at Intuit," Dorn said. "This approach is both green and smart."

Designed utilizing materials and equipment to qualify project for USGBC LEED Certification, careful consideration was taken throughout the procurement effort. Some of its “sustainable features” include occupancy sensors, high-efficiency HVAC units and a shuttle bus which ties the building to nearby railway transit. A touch-screen building management system in the lobby gives the viewer an indication of how energy is being used throughout the building, while 40 kW photovoltaic panels on the roof generate electricity from solar energy. Refurbished office furniture was chosen for desks, with 40% of the materials used being manufactured locally. In addition, indoor water use is reduced by waterless urinals and all of the site’s toilet and irrigation water is supplied by reclaimed water from the City of San Diego. More examples of energy-saving tactics are the installation of a “cool roof,” the addition of insulation to the interiors of concrete walls and the use of low VOC (volatile organic compounds) finish products.

Energy-efficiency related strategies are the running theme of this entire project. By achieving an energy-efficient design, the project qualified for cash incentives and help with offsetting fees for LEED registration and certification from the SDG&E Sustainable Communities Energy Efficiency Program.

The DPR office contains 11 conference rooms including the circular Delta Room and a large training area, a 16-person videoconference room, and a space dedicated to building information modeling technology. In addition, the open office features 14-ft. exposed ceilings. Scrims, which were designed to resemble the sail of boats, hang from the ceiling to diffuse light.

To meet the completion date and accommodate the move-in of an army of researchers, the team installed the HVAC and plumbing in one lab without utilizing a traditional shop process. Instead, the team relied on the design documents, which were coordinated by the subcontractor, MEP designer and DPR, and completed the 2nd phase 10 days ahead of schedule. Both phases of the project were completed on time and under budget.

The institute's design took full advantage of the site and is highlighted with a 1,000-ft.-long garage that serpentines along an adjacent street. The garage abuts a similarly curved, trellis covered walkway that connects the six buildings located along its spine. Crews, using large drilled piers to support the structure, excavated a deep utility and maintenance tunnel under the walkway.

The design's two levels of walkways, one below grade and one at grade, give GNF employees the ability to circulate through, meet in and access any level of any building with ease. The tunnel is a serviceway for the telecommunication and utilities infrastructure.

Labs, being as systems-oriented as they are, see 40 to 50 percent of construction costs go into state-of-the-art electrical and mechanical systems. Operational costs are fairly high because of the nature of the systems, but if labs are not working, scientists can't do research in a safe environment.

Crews had to haul away 110,000 cubic yards of soil, while storing 20,000 cubic yards onsite.

“The project was unique in that while unassociated with the university, it sits on UCSD land,” said Brian Gracz of DPR. “This meant that UCSD was responsible for issuing permits and inspections, but since it was a private project, we were held by the university to build to the city of San Diego's construction standards.”
          
Unique timing issues also resulted in a gap between the original estimate and the actual start of construction due to negotiations between the building's tenants and UCSD. The first estimate for the project was completed in 2003; however, when the project began to move forward in January 2005, the numbers had changed significantly due to price escalation. Rather than re-estimating the entire job, which would cause further delay, DPR developed a price escalation calculation based on historical inflation data, as well as information gathered from subcontractor opinion polls and other industry publications. According to Gracz, this calculation was used to create a percentage increase on a trade-by-trade basis that could be applied across the board, allowing the team to provide an accurate estimate accounting for the extended buy-out period without revisiting of the items in the original estimate.

“The customer had three main goals for the project: schedule, cost and recycle,” said DPR's Carlos Crabtree. “By salvaging a majority of the existing building's materials, we met all three.” DPR kept all the cabinet boxes and benches, salvaged more than 75 percent of the casework, reused existing fume hoods and recycled acoustical ceiling tiles. An existing cold room was refurbished and other specialty items were pulled from the existing structure during demolition and reincorporated into the new facility. “Every effort was made to use as much as possible and minimize material going to local landfills,” said Crabtree.

This approach proved not only to be good for the environment, but for savings and the schedule as well. While there was a premium on the demolition, similar new casework systems would have cost considerably more. In addition, using existing casework took lead time out of the equation and allowed DPR to shave extra weeks off the schedule by self-performing the retrofit and installation. As a result, the project's certificate of occupancy was received one day ahead of schedule and what would have been an eight month job was completed in six months.

The team, including UCSD, DPR, RTKL, and the engineering and subcontracting firms embraced a collaborative, high performance team approach and achieved unprecedented success in healthcare, sustainability and collaboration. “At the onset of the project, we determined that the only way to succeed was to do this as a team,” according to Randy Leopold, the university’s principal architect for the project.

Recognizing the need for a roadmap to drive the team towards the same goals, the stakeholders developed a mission statement, “As a team, inspire,” and core values; integrity, openness, enjoyment, progressive, and determination, which provided a clear focus for the entire team. Delineation between companies was blurred and the team was able to function as a collective unit and perform effectively in the office and in the field. When ever-changing activies ensued, individulas joining the project observed the level of cohesion and followed suit.

“As unexpected and highly complex issues arose while building the Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center, our foundation of trust allowed our team to find timely and non-traditional solutions to problems that could have led to delays of many months,” said DPR Project Manager Carlos Crabtree overseeing the Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center. “Because of our creative strategies, this project is ahead of schedule and under budget.”

Also contributing to the success and taking collaboration even further was the use of full-scale Building Information Modeling (BIM); leadership from all disciplines pooled resources to accomplish pipe routing, conduit and ductwork, systems, assemblies, and sequencing for use by all trades, including interior drywall partitions and equipment supports.

The construction was completed in December 2010—four weeks ahead of schedule, with a public opening spring 2011.

One notable unique project feature was that more than 70 percent of the process systems were designed to be modularized. By pre-fabricating the modules and having them tested in factories prior to installation, the number of technical issues onsite was tremendously reduced. The use of modules also allowed process work to proceed on an accelerated parallel path from building construction, significantly reducing trade stacking and fast-tracking the construction/validation schedule.

The final product exceeded the owner’s expectations, and the DPR construction team was commended for their efforts in securing the Manufacturing Building Certificate of Occupancy ahead of schedule.