McCarthy Completes the Transformation of California’s Largest Hospital Campus

McCarthy Building Companies recently completed the large-scale transformation of the Loma Linda University Medical Center Campus in Loma Linda, California. The improvements to the campus span across one million square feet and include a 17-story adult tower and a 10-story children’s tower atop a shared podium that houses emergency, diagnostic and treatment, perioperative, administrative, lobby, food service, and dining programs. The billion-dollar inland empire project provides the community with a new state-of-the-art hospital and differentiates from other facilities by offering flex spaces that serve both adult and pediatric patients.

Serving as general contractor, McCarthy worked in partnership with construction manager, Jtec, architect, NBBJ, and engineers, ARUP and Stantec to provide preconstruction and construction services for the mega project. The facility was designed in compliance with rigorous seismic requirements given its proximity to the active San Jacinto fault line and a neighboring hospital. McCarthy was able to address constructability concerns by developing a preconstruction work plan that drove efficiency and integrated necessary agencies and consultants.

Standing at 268 feet tall, the new facility includes 480 beds, 30 surgical/interventional rooms, 19 Imaging Rooms, a 71-bay emergency department, and an entire podium floor dedicated to maternity. Its innovative patient floor design incorporates open core nursing units with a standardized module that provides operational efficiencies by distributing nursing areas, maximizing daylight, and enhancing future flexibility.  The campus is also differentiated by a unique structural system. Innovative for its size and complexity, the basement of the new building is comprised of massive five feet deep plate girders that rest on 126 base isolators which create a level of separation that allows the building to horizontally move up to 42” in the event of an earthquake. The entire superstructure is made up of 26,000 tons of steel to ensure the facility’s ability to remain operational in the most challenging environmental circumstances.

“We commend the leaders of Loma Linda Health for bringing McCarthy onboard early to ensure we had an experienced team and solid foundation,“ said Eric J Hoffman, project executive at McCarthy Building Companies. “Our ability to successfully achieve the program expectations was the result of our entire team, including more than 900 trade partners, working towards the goals of the campus.”

McCarthy, one of the nation’s largest healthcare constructors, brought team members on early to ensure their ability to mitigate disruptions, noise, vibrations, and dust throughout the construction process. In addition, the team partnered with Loma Linda University, to produce a series of videos that allowed pediatric patients to immerse themselves in the active jobsite through 360-view cameras. The young spectators were privy to an array of specialty equipment that is used to support Level 1 emergency services as well as a dedicated floor for mechanical HVAC equipment. They also followed along as the team transformed the façade on this existing tower, installed a rooftop helipad, constructed two connector bridges, built a generator yard, and revitalized a new main entrance with a 30’ trellis canopy.

“From the start of construction through occupancy, McCarthy spent 60 months on this campus,” continued Hoffman. “What this team achieved is a testament to the talent within our industry and McCarthy’s ability to integrate the necessary expertise to achieve the tangible goals of the project while providing great experiences for everyone onsite.”