McCarthy awarded $23mil design/build VA project

(Dallas) June 25, 2012 – McCarthy Building Companies Inc., a Texas builder for 33 years, was awarded the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs design/build, Combined Heat and Power, Cogeneration facilities project at the VA Dallas Medical Center.

While McCarthy is building major healthcare facilities for the VA, the $23 million project is the company’s first stand-alone CHP/COGEN win in the VA’s nationwide renewable energy program.

Nationally, McCarthy builds more than $1.5 billion in healthcare, clinic and R&D work annually, and CHP facilities like these are becoming more popular to provide efficient, reliable, secure and renewable energy.

The project includes the construction of a new electrical building and turbine shelter and the installation of a five-megawatt, natural gas fired turbine with a dual-fuel fired Heat Recovery Steam Generator in the existing boiler house. It also will include the installation of a natural gas compressor, Selective Catalytic Regenerator; a 15-kilovolt paralleling electrical switchgear and black start generator, and modifications to the existing 15-kilovolt electrical distribution system. The project’s main functions include providing renewable power source, the efficiencies of cogeneration, and enhanced energy security at the VA Medical Center.

“The VA COGEN project is a big win for McCarthy because it is a non-traditional project type that helps broaden McCarthy’s construction bandwidth in Texas,” said McCarthy Texas Division President, Mike McWay. “It’s great to continue to capture this type of work, especially since there is substantially more VA work expected in the region.”

The VA COGEN will prove to be a sustainable, economical and efficient project because the CHP process not only converts the waste energy that is typically lost from the power generation process, but it also avoids the need for a separate energy source that would be required to power a boiler or a chiller to deliver water for campus needs. This energy production method is especially suited to 24-7 operations that must satisfy both power and steam/hot water/chilled water needs.

In other renewable work, McCarthy recently completed 22 megawatt photovoltaic/solar facilities in both Gila Bend and Chino Valley, Ariz. In addition to the VA COGEN project, McCarthy’s Texas Division was recently awarded the Maritime Administration (MARAD) Beaumont Layberth Facility project located on the Neches River south of Beaumont, Texas. It is the Texas Division’s first design/build civil project in Texas and will provide long-term safe lay-berthing facilities for eight large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off (LMSR) vessels.

Construction of the VA COGEN project is scheduled to begin in late 2012, with completion anticipated in 2014. Stanley Consultants is the lead designer for the project, with support from Lockwood Andrews and Newnam, a Houston-based subsidiary of Leo A Daly. Southland Industries and MC Dean are working, respectively, in a design/build assist role on mechanical and industrial scopes on the project.

About McCarthy

Celebrating 33 years of building in Texas, McCarthy is the nation’s eighth largest domestic general contractor (Engineering News-Record, May 2012) and a leading federal builder. An employee-owned company, McCarthy performs general contractor, construction management and design/build services for the following project types: federal, port/marine, healthcare, educational, entertainment, parking structures, office buildings, bridges and highways, laboratory, biotechnology, retail, microelectronic, industrial facilities, tenant interiors and mixed-use project construction. In addition to Dallas, McCarthy has offices in Houston; Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego and Newport Beach, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; St. Louis and Atlanta.

For more information, visit mccarthy.com.

McCarthy awarded $23mil design/build VA project

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