St. Jude Medical Center Northwest Tower Project Earns Two AGC Alliant Build America Awards

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — The St. Jude Medical Center Northwest Tower in Fullerton, California, recently received two Alliant Build America awards in the categories of Partnering Excellence and Design-Build Merit from the Associated General Contractors of America. A collective effort of St. Jude Medical Center, Petra-ICS, McCarthy Building Companies and Taylor Design, the new $228-million (construction cost) healthcare facility, which opened in November 2014, was completed five months early and more than 10 percent under the original construction budget.

Located on the northern side of the St. Jude Medical Center campus at Bastanchury Road and Harbor Boulevard, the new tower replaces an existing tower and meets California’s strict seismic requirements. The project entailed construction of a four-story, 200,000-square-foot hospital connected to an existing tower; a 20,000-square-foot central utility plant; a 215-car parking structure expansion and re-routing of major site utilities on an active medical campus.

The project team overcame various project challenges and exceeded project expectations by implementing Lean construction methods, utilizing technological advancements and effectively harnessing the talents of an experienced and collaborative team through integrated design-build delivery. The progressive design-build form of delivery implemented on the St. Jude Medical Center project includes IPD “lite” terms and conditions with unique contractual incentives for the design team, contractors and subcontractors while still providing the owner with the certainty of a Guaranteed Maximum Price. To receive these incentives, the team members needed to meet specific goals for safety, budget, design, facility satisfaction, quality and schedule.

“We chose a design-build project delivery method in an effort to lower the overall design and construction cost, as well as to bring a heightened level of accountability to the design phase of the project,” said Jim Bostic, vice president of construction for Petra ICS. “It is a known fact, that as an owner representative, our best opportunity to control the cost of a project is during the design phase.”

Facilitated by Ventura Consulting Group and Lou Bainbridge Consulting, the partnering process was also instrumental to the project’s success. “Having achieved world-class level success on previous projects, the project team wanted to use partnering to reach greater heights,” said Paul Crotty, VCG facilitator. To meet this objective, team members implemented a project-wide process of continual improvement and, in doing so, reinforced the importance of cultural alignment, common goals, core values and rules of engagement.

Photo courtesy of RMA Photography.