Phoenix College

Time management┬áPhoenix College is updating its campus with three new building projects. Director of facilities and construction Doug McCarthy gives Linda Seid Frembes some insight on how they were completed without disrupting classes. Phoenix College (PC) in Phoenix, Arizona, is the flagship college of the Maricopa County Community College District. Situated in downtown Central Phoenix, the college provides a central location for more than 10,000 students on its 52-acre campus.   Founded in 1920, PC is one of the oldest community colleges in the country and today offers more than 200 degree and certificate programs. According to some reports, PC is the single largest provider of higher education and career training in the state.┬á ÔÇ£In 2004, the District issued general obligation bonds for all ten colleges, and that was based on each college going out and doing a master plan for its campus,ÔÇØ explains Doug McCarthy, PCÔÇÖs director of facilities, who notes that all the recently completed expansion projects (except for the parking garage) were part of the master plan.According to sources, the master plan design included an annual three percent increase in the budget for inflation. Due to the hyperinflation of construction prices during the boom time in Arizona real estate, the inflation adjustments were not enough. By the time ground was broken in early 2008, some changes were made to the design of the projects. McCarthy adds, ÔÇ£With whatÔÇÖs happened to construction pricing over the past four years, money became short and we had to realign the bond program due to hyperinflation of the construction market.ÔÇØThe expansion still included a new Fine Arts building, a new Maintenance and Operations Center, and a parking structure with an integrated public safety office. ÔÇ£The first part of the bond was for the Maintenance and Operations and Fine Arts buildings,ÔÇØ says McCarthy. ÔÇ£The M&O building was in the middle of campus, which was inconvenient, and the building was dilapidated. The Fine Arts building was antiquated and not really usable as an arts facility. Now that the programs have moved, the old M&O building will be demolished to make way for the new student union patio, and the old Fine Arts building will be renovated into a Chemistry building.ÔÇØMcCarthy adds, ÔÇ£Additional funding that was part of the bond was allocated for other programs that didnÔÇÖt materialize. The District allowed us to use the funds for something tangible, and thatÔÇÖs when the parking garage with an integrated new public safety office was added to the expansion.ÔÇØThe addition of the parking structure addressed an ongoing problem on campus. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre located in the middle of a historic neighborhood, so parking has always been a premium. Our first buildings on campus were built in 1938 by the Works Progress Administration [WPA, a New Deal agency]. WeÔÇÖre congruent with the neighborhood, but weÔÇÖre landlocked,ÔÇØ says McCarthy.With his background in construction, McCarthy oversaw construction work by D.L. Withers while his colleague Gary Eberhart, the district architect, oversaw the architectural design work by DLR Group of Phoenix. According to McCarthy, DLR worked on the designs for the M&O and the Fine Arts buildings. The parking garage was a design/build project with Dick Fritsche Design Group and D.L. Withers. Founded in 1981, D.L. Withers Construction is based in Arizona and provides construction management and general contractor services.The team has managed to execute the expansion project without disrupting classes and without making the parking problem any worse. ÔÇ£The projects were carefully planned starting from inception to design and construction,ÔÇØ says McCarthy, who says he and Eberhart remained very involved in the design and construction phases. ÔÇ£Withers handled it like clockwork.ÔÇØ John Norbut, senior project manager with D.L. Withers, has been on the project since its inception. He provides an example of how the work on the existing campus did not result in closing a day of school. ÔÇ£For example, during Christmas break, we put in foundations and caissons for the new parking structure. We covered them up for the semester so the students could still park there, and then came back in the summer to put up the parking garage,ÔÇØ he says.Norbut also points out that working with existing buildings also meant identifying and working around existing utilities. His team had to relocate water and gas lines, drainage lines, and moved a fiber optic line without disrupting connectivity in order to accommodate the new footprint of the Fine Arts building. The positive result came from tight coordination with PC staff and local utilities.Now located on the north end of campus, the Fine Arts building includes brick and metal work by D.L. Withers and contains an art studio, photo labs, classrooms, a gallery, and roof access with city views. Withers handled asbestos abatement and demolition of the old buildings where the new complex now stands.ÔÇ£The previous Fine Arts building was old, dank and outfitted with old equipment. It wasnÔÇÖt conducive to a creative environment,ÔÇØ says McCarthy. ÔÇ£The new building has a courtyard and plenty of natural light.ÔÇØMcCarthy notes that at PC, they build high-performance buildings that behave much like a LEED-certified building. However, the decision to not pursue LEED certification for the expansion was due to money and time. ÔÇ£Every stage of design and every system was reviewed from the perspective of maintainability, cost of maintenance, upfront costs and impact on positive environments for the students,ÔÇØ he says. ÔÇ£That meant extra work on insulation, glazing, HVAC, drainage and controls.ÔÇØConstruction was completed in time for students to occupy the new buildings at the start of the Winter 2009 semester. ÔÇ£The feedback on the new buildings has been tremendous, and the students are pleased,ÔÇØ says McCarthy. ÔÇ£There is no comparison to what each building replaced.ÔÇØ ÔÇô Editorial research by Joe Louis┬á