MCCARTHY

McCarthy Building Companies is Underway on the Irvine Valley College Campus Fine Arts Building/Complex for South Orange County Community College District

Above: Artist rendering of Irvine Valley College’s new Fine Arts Building/Complex from northwest elevation.

Irvine Valley College offers two-year associate degrees in over 70 majors in the liberal arts and sciences, business sciences, social sciences and technologies. Students attend this state-of-the-art facility to complete their general education and pre-major requirements for transfer to four-year colleges. The Irvine Valley College (IVC) School of Arts offers students an education in many of the arts, including dance, music, speech, theater, visual arts and art history. IVC’s School of Arts is currently in the middle of building a beautiful, new Arts Village directly Southwest of the current Performing Arts Center and the newly constructed Parking Lot 6. The Fine Arts Complex will consist of three new one-story buildings (Building A, B & C) totaling 43,300 assignable square feet and a core area quad. The new 62,471

gross square footage will serve to consolidate and expand the Fine Arts department. Features will include music classrooms, practice and rehearsal rooms, dance studios, drawing and painting classrooms, digital art classrooms, a ceramic and sculpture classroom, gallery space, lecture/recital hall, and a conference room with offices.

The South Orange County Community College District provided notice to proceed on the IVC fine arts building project to general contractor McCarthy Building Companies October 18, 2021, with completion projected to be sometime in August 2023. Tony Paterno is the project manager for McCarthy Building Companies overseeing the daily operations of constructing the new $43 million Fine Arts Building Complex at IVC. “We are currently in the initial mass grading stage of this project where our earthmoving subcontractor, Qwest Engineering, will move more than 20,000 cubic yards of dirt,” says Paterno. “We are exporting most of the existing clay material as it does not meet the requirements for the construction of the building foundations. We are importing more suitable material that contains clean sand to meet the expansion index and provide optimum compressibility as specified by the engineer.”

Paterno explains that McCarthy Building Companies will be constructing three separate buildings on the 3 ¾ acre site. “This is more or less a flat site, and all of the earthmoving and grading work should be complete by the middle of Feb. The sequence is to export the old dirt and import the new fill. Next, we will begin laying out the footings for the installation of 3,500 cubic yards of self-performed structural concrete that will start at the end of Feb.,” says Paterno. “Once we receive pad certification, we will begin laying out the building perimeters and placing the anchor bolt footings. We have to create

Bottom: John Deere 844K-II wheel loader will be used to export old fill and import new fill.

Above: Cat 623K scraper hauling material from Building B footprint.

starter footings for the columns. Once these are all laid out and poured, our crews will set the anchor bolts that will support the moment steel frame structure.”

Paterno says the next step is to install the grade beams and slab on grade. “We are starting with Building C. Once the steel structure is complete, our concrete crew will come back to finish the slab on grade and other structural elements,” continues Paterno. “Next, the framer will come in and basically own the job for months. The exterior walls will then go up, and we will eventually finish the interior walls once the electrical, plumbing and other trades are finished. This work will include plaster, insulation, and waterproofing the exterior before the final finish work can resume. The flashing and sheet metal work will also be completed during this process. We will do the roofing and exterior glazing this summer and have completely dry buildings by the end of the year to complete all of the interior finishes.” According to Paterno, all three buildings will share the same exterior aesthetics, with some geometric variances like pop-outs and other 3-D elements specified by the architect.

When asked about specific challenges on the IVC Fine Arts Building Project, Paterno points to price increases and supply chain availability and delivery schedules as significant issues. “Many of our projects are being impacted by the availability of material and price fluctuations. Lead times are being extended and are highly variable right now. You are told one thing, and you plan for it and even build contingencies around the plan. Then that plan changes to the point of even overriding contingencies,” says Paterno. “We knew that some of the materials could take a long time to show up to the jobsite, but now, it is just about everything that is late. If you had told me a few years ago that 6” PVC pipe would take eight weeks to be delivered, I would have said that you were crazy. Even local supplies take more time than usual. So, our biggest challenge is remaining adaptable and maintaining a widely flexible plan that will work during these inconsistencies in the market. The best way to manage price fluctuations and material availability is to get it approved, ordered, and onsite as soon as possible after winning any specific project.”

As the walls go up and the concrete is poured, there is still a significant amount of other work to be done. “Pro-Craft Construction, Inc. is performing the excavation and installation of the wet and dry utilities on this project. This includes the storm drain, sewer, domestic water piping, reclaimed water and firewater. “This project also includes a dual plumb system that allows for reclaimed water for toilets and other greywater usages

Above & Below: McCarthy Companies is using several pieces of earthmoving equipment in order to get the site ready for utilities, footings, slabs and structures.

{ Continued from page 14 } throughout all three buildings,” says Paterno. “The underground work will begin after the foundations are poured. The work will include 1,500 linear feet of storm drain, 700 linear feet of domestic water, 2,000 feet of firewater, and 500 feet of reclaimed water pipe.” Then there is the electrical utility work that will include both high and low voltage lines, cable, and telephone lines for every building. “We utilized the full services of our in-house mapping group for the entire modeling of the campus area under construction. This included the potholing to locate existing utilities and also the mapping of all elevations,” continues Paterno.

According to Paterno, DLR Group is the design firm of record for the IVC Fine Arts Building Project. “DLR did a fantastic job with the design on this project. We have built performing art centers before, and they are always distinctive designs with high-end acoustics and uniquely crafted accents,” says Paterno. “This particular project is no exception, as its high-end finishes including wood veneer panels, dance performance flooring, and a ton of other advanced acoustic finish work.” Although McCarthy Building Companies is self-performing much of the work on this project, they are also managing between 30 to 40 subcontractors. “I would like to recognize Jason Cantrell, our superintendent overseeing all of the trades on this project,” continues Paterno. “This includes our landscape and hardscape subcontractor, American Landscape, who will be performing extensive work in the core area quad. This area will feature native plantings, artistic displays and sculptures. Many of these subcontractors are new to McCarthy Building Companies, and it is always nice to add new trade partners.”

For more information on McCarthy Building Companies, please visit www.mccarthy.com or call their Newport Beach office at (949) 851-8383. Cc

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