subcontractors at Mile High Station for Mortenson Construction’s 13th Annual Star Awards. The event recognizes the efforts of Mortenson’s trade partners from the year and honors the companies and individuals who made their jobs as general contractors successful.
There were thirteen awards given, and Murphy Company was awarded the STAR Award for Best Preconstruction for our work at Children’s Hospital Colorado MOB (now going by the official name of Health Pavilion), a tenant improvement project of a 110,000-square-foot medical office building (MOB).
Preconstruction began for this Children’s Hospital office building site in the summer of 2018. Our design-build engineering group was all hands on deck, and four of our professional engineers, Christine Beermann, Bonnie Birge, Alex Scambos, and Matt Tien, tackled the design for the mechanical and plumbing systems involved. We also pulled in some extra help from our St. Louis office. Dan Leath, senior engineer, assisted the team with the medical gas system, and we received some CAD and BIM assistance from several employees in the home office. By the end of the preconstruction phase of the project, Murphy was able to manage the design to stay within the original budget presented.
“This project presented a unique challenge to the entire preconstruction team,” said Matt Tien, Preconstruction Manager. “Although Children’s Hospital would occupy the entire building, it would be home to over 20 user groups with widely varying needs. Managing each users’ requirements was a considerable effort. Working with Mortenson and the other Design-Build teams we were a key part of expediting the delivery of an exceptional facility to serve children within the Denver and surrounding areas.”
Our construction crews stepped on site in October 2018. This team was led by Mark Meston (project manager) with the assistance of Evan Kassel (project manager), Todd Paulson (general foreman), and Aaron Arrieta (plumber foreman). In this great coordination effort, our preconstruction and construction teams stayed in constant communication and have proven themselves as a valuable partner for Mortenson in this $6.3 million, design-build project. Standing side-by-side with Mortenson, we have built an outstanding portfolio. Our most notable projects with Mortenson have been with Woodward Inc., United Airlines, and CoorsTek, Inc.
To accept the award, a few members of Murphy’s Potomac MOB team attended the event. Senior Vice President and Colorado General Manager, Bob Mathisen was also in attendance and celebrated with the team after this great win. He said, “Congratulations to all who worked on the project. This was a TEAM effort and we wouldn’t have won this award without a great performance on the project from beginning to end. Well done.”
Project manager, Mark Meston also echoed this testament. “When I heard that we won the [preconstruction] award, I sensed that Mortenson has a thorough vote of confidence in Murphy Company’s work product. It was a thing of beauty to see this group really click.”
Through the years, we have built a great reputation for ourselves with Mortenson and with Children’s Hospital of Colorado. After the completion of the Health Pavilion project, this team will move down to Colorado Springs to complete two more tenant improvement projects with CHCO Urgent Care and Telstar locations.
