BOC Training a Great Foundation for LEED Works

BOC graduate Jeff Madigan, is a project engineer for the University Mechanical & Engineering Contractors (UMEC, an EMCOR Company) in El Cajon, California. The company is currently involved in providing the plumbing, mechanical piping and sheet metal installation for an exciting LEED project commissioned by Palomar Pomerado Health (PPH). Installations will be in the facility’s hospital and central plant. As one of the largest hospital projects in the country, as well as the first new hospital to be built in the area in almost thirty years, a great deal of anticipation surrounds the project, seen as a “hospital of the future” because of the detailed attention to design and planning.

According to PPH’s mission statement, the new facility “will harmoniously blend innovative technology with our community’s cultural needs and transform the healing experience. Design and construction will reflect a commitment to the hallmarks of sustainable buildings – healthy indoor air quality, a soothing and healing environment, and continual recognition of life cycle impacts of materials and methods employed.”

To fulfill this vision, UMEC’s part will be to oversee, at a minimum, construction waste management, refrigerant management, potable water use reduction and community containment prevention. Reflecting on these requirements, Madigan notes that, “The level of due diligence expected for all the trades from the owner is evident with the goal of recycling 75% of all construction waste. The LEED credit goal in the area of enhanced refrigerant management is to select refrigerants and HVAC&R equipment that minimize or eliminate the emission of compounds that contribute to ozone depletion and global warming.

“The project will require greater centralized coordination between the general contractor and all the trades in achieving the LEED credits. Everyone will be challenged with the current economic situation to maximize efficiency with fewer and fewer available resources. My training as a BOC graduate and as an LEED-accredited professional has guided my efforts in organizing UMEC’s policies and procedures.”

Now underway and set for completion in 2011, the Palomar Medical Center West will be a 653-bed hospital in the midst of the Escondido Research and Technology Center and is creating over 700 construction jobs for the area, always a boon in harder times. “It is exciting to be able to work on a project of this magnitude that requires my training so extensively,” concludes Madigan.