New Science Center, Contra Costa College

‘WHB was asked to provide construction management oversight. The project included a total of four phases: Abatement/Demolition of Existing Buildings, Site Work and Utilities, Main Building Construction, and Abatement/Demolition of Abandoned Biology and Physical Sciences Buildings. From pre-construction through project closeout, WHB Engineers provided comprehensive project and construction management services. Our Senior Project Manager worked closely with the District in developing proposal packages to assist with the selection of the architectural firm (Smith Group) and the General Contractor (BHM Construction). Our team prepared a budget estimate for hard and soft costs; a master project schedule that included all four phases of the project; prepared and managed the constructability review process; and prepared the front-end construction Division O and 1 documents.

The team used the District’s BMET project accounting system, EADOC for the web-based construction management of RFIs, submittals, memos, and other project documents. PlanGrid was used to track changes during construction and BIM was successfully used during design and construction to minimize change orders during construction. The project is net zero ready. Some specific areas of focus in the construction of this facility that required added expertise and coordination efforts by the WHB team included the installation of laboratory gas and vacuum systems, emergency generator, chemical fume hoods, biological safety cabinets and the reverse osmosis/deionized water recirculation systems.