Virtual design and construction (VDC) and advanced technology enabled construction team to deliver project with an accelerated 13-month schedule to meet needs of fast-growing region.
Springdale, Ark. (August 14, 2019) – McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. has completed construction of a new $47 million Mercy multispecialty facility in Springdale, Ark. The 63,000-square-foot center, which will open September 18, is Mercy’s largest outpatient clinic in northwest Arkansas.
The state-of-the-art facility combines a two-story multispecialty clinic with a 24-hour emergency department. The clinic includes 29 exam rooms dedicated to primary care and 34 exam rooms for specialty care areas such as cardiology, urology, pulmonology, audiology, neurology, endocrinology, sports medicine and bariatric surgery. It is equipped with advanced medical imaging equipment that includes nuclear medicine, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) and X-ray technology. The ER facility houses 12 exam rooms, two triage rooms, a trauma room, an isolation room and three behavioral rooms.
Innovative building systems integrated into the facility include an energy-efficient variable refrigerant flow (VRF) heating and cooling system. An onsite helipad will be used to transport acute patients to Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas in Rogers for additional treatment. An emergency generator is onsite for operating the ER space.
Located on a 31-acre site in northwest Springdale, the facility is designed and constructed with built-in flexibility to accommodate future expansion as the community continues to grow.
VDC and Advanced Technology Accelerate Schedule
The McCarthy-led construction team leveraged virtual design and construction (VDC) and advanced technology— including virtual reality, drones, laser scanning and 360-degree video—to streamline construction and complete the project within an efficient 13-month schedule.
Throughout construction, McCarthy’s in-house VDC team guided a comprehensive VDC process to effectively coordinate the work of all trade partners and to quickly identify and resolve potential constructability issues.
A high-performance laser-scanning device was used to develop a complete 3-D model for all major building components, including mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems as well as steel and architectural finishes. Drones conducted infrared scanning of the building envelope to ensure no water or energy leaks.
During construction, McCarthy also used 360-degree cameras to capture high-resolution digital images of every room and major area to equip Mercy in planning future expansions and modifications to the building.
“Our VDC process helped Mercy visualize the building throughout the construction process, providing them with greater certainty in the final design of the facility,” said McCarthy Project Manager Josh Melton.
“Having an accurate 3-D model to refer to will be extremely valuable for the maintenance and facilities teams as well,”
Other project team members include The Lamar Johnson Collaborative (architecture); Heideman Associates (mechanical engineering); Crafton Tull (civil engineering); and KPFF Consulting Engineers (structural engineering).
“As the population continues to soar in the region, there is a growing need for critical infrastructure projects,” said Kerry Harper, executive director, administration at Mercy. “We continue to turn to McCarthy as a trusted partner, knowing that they will work collaboratively with innovative solutions that deliver projects quickly,“
McCarthy is also managing the construction of a $148 million expansion of the Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas campus in Rogers, Ark. That project, which includes the addition of a new seven-story, 279,000-square-foot inpatient tower, is scheduled to open in November 2019.
Watch a brief video showcasing the technology used to construct the building.
About Mercy
Mercy, named one of the top five large U.S. health systems from 2016 to 2019 by IBM Watson Health, serves millions annually. Mercy includes more than 40 acute care, managed and specialty (heart, children’s, orthopedic and rehab) hospitals, 900 physician practices and outpatient facilities, 45,000 co-workers and 2,400 Mercy Clinic physicians in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has clinics, outpatient services and outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. In addition, Mercy’s IT division, Mercy Technology Services, supply chain organization, ROi, and Mercy Virtual commercially serve providers and patients in more than 20 states coast to coast.
About McCarthy
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is the oldest privately held national construction company in the country – with more than 150 years spent collaborating with partners to solve complex building challenges on behalf of its clients. With an unrelenting focus on safety and a comprehensive quality program that span all phases of every project, McCarthy utilizes industry-leading design phase and construction techniques combined with value-add technology to maximize outcomes. Repeatedly honored as a Best Place to Work and Healthiest Employer, McCarthy is ranked the 12th largest domestic building contractor (Engineering News-Record, May 2019). With approximately 3,700 salaried employees and craft professionals, the firm has offices in St. Louis, Atlanta; Collinsville, Ill.; Portage, Ind.; Kansas City, Kan.; Omaha, Neb.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Denver; Dallas, Houston; and San Diego, Newport Beach, San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento, Calif. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com or by following the company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.