Growing Pains
By Tony Illia

A mandate by Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn that all state nursing programs double their enrollment capacity has resulted in the fast tracking of a new $16.6 million, 85,400-sq.-ft. Health Sciences and Nursing Facility at the Community College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas.

The new four-story, steel-framed building at CCSN will enable the college to increase its nursing enrollment from 150 to 300 students, plus double its other heath-related programs ranging from biotechnology and cardio-respiratory to sonography and ophthalmology.

It comes at a time when the Nevada Hospital Association expects the need for new registered nurses to grow by 3,324 or 41 percent through 2010 in the southern portion of the state. And the need for nursing assistants will also increase by nearly 2,000 positions during that same time frame.

Martin-Harris Construction of Las Vegas is the general contractor. Situated on 2.5 acres at the southeastern end of CCSN's Charleston campus, the 68-ft.-tall structure is clad in a combination of sandstone, EIFS, glazing and painted metal paneling.

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Designed by JMA Architecture Studios, Las Vegas, the new center is colored in a palette of subdued desert hues.

"The building concept reflects the native desert environment," said Thomas Schoeman, president of JMA. "The building's two wings form an arroyo with a student assembly space on the plaza side. We added stone along the building's base to accent the canyon feel while using a stream bed down the center to emphasize the students' connection to the surrounding outdoors."

Before construction could start, roughly 1,500 cu. yards of caliche had to be removed and 40,000 cu. yards of dirt imported. Bulldog Equipment Co. of North Las Vegas was the earthwork subcontractor, and Las Vegas-based Lochsa Engineering the civil engineer.

Set atop a concrete slab foundation with spread footings, the new building contains a 150-seat auditorium, classroom/demonstration areas, four simulation rooms, six conference rooms, and 35 faculty offices. It will help relieve the school's popular but overcrowded health science and nursing programs.

About 12,000 students attend CCSN.

"Many of our nursing students are currently being housed in portable trailers and temporary or converted facilities," said Bob Gilbert, CCSN's director of site planning and construction management. "This new building will help us to both meet the community's need as well as the state requirement."

The urgent need for the building prompted the college to accelerate its construction schedule by six months. Martin-Harris accepted the challenge, tackling a daunting timeline that has entailed careful coordination with subcontractors and suppliers, said Don LaRue, the firm's project manager.

The contractor also quickened the project's critical path components, including ordering the structural steel before the contract award. Phoenix-based Schuff Steel Co. is the steel erector.

Using steel frame construction enables the building to have fewer sheer walls, which gives it more flexibility to subdivide and/or expand interior spaces as needed. Las Vegas-based Bennett & Jimenez Inc. is the structural engineer.

The facility will have fiber optics as well as wireless Internet access, plus purified water, gas and air in all the demonstration/lab classroom areas. It is serviced by energy-efficient boilers and chillers from a nearby central plant that was expanded by 5,000- sq.- ft. Locally based Pahor Mechanical Contractors Inc. is the HVAC contractor and JBA Consulting Engineers of Las Vegas is electrical/mechanical engineer.

Once complete, the new Health Sciences and Nursing Building will house $4.5 million worth of state-of-the-art equipment including CAT scan and digital imagining machinery.

The new building also has a one-acre plaza consisting of planters, benches and a stamped concrete apron. It will serve as a central gathering point for students and faculty. There is an additional 10,000-sq.-ft. outdoor steel-canopied courtyard to the north of the building for dining and studying.

"The new building gives us the additional lab space needed to expand our nursing program," said Fran Brown, dean of CCSN's Health Sciences Department. "We are doing what we can to help [the valley's hospitals] meet their nursing staff needs."

JMA, which also master-planned the 80-acre campus, provided enough room for a future building expansion if needed. The 18-month project will reach a peak labor force of 150 with Martin-Harris self-performing the concrete and carpentry work. The new building is scheduled to open in July for the fall 2005 semester.

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