projects were carefully planned starting from inception to design and construction," says McCarthy, who says he and Eberhart remained very involved in the design and construction phases. " Withers handled it like clockwork." John Norbut, senior project manager with D. L. Withers, has been on the project since its inception. He provides an example of how the work on the existing campus did not result in closing a day of school. " For example, during Christmas break, we put in foundations and caissons for the new parking structure. We covered them up for the semester so the students could still park there, and then came back in the summer to put up the parking garage," he says. Norbut also points out that working with existing buildings also meant identifying and working around existing utilities. His team had to relocate water and gas lines, drainage lines, and moved a fi ber optic line without disrupting connectivity in order to accommodate the new footprint of the Fine Arts building. The positive result came from tight coordination with PC staff and local utilities. Now located on the north end of campus, the Fine Arts building includes brick and metal work by D. L. Withers and contains an art studio, photo labs, classrooms, a gallery, and roof access with city views. Withers handled asbestos abatement and demolition of the old buildings where the new complex now stands. " The previous Fine Arts building was old, dank and outfi tted with old equipment. It wasn't conducive to a creative environment," says McCarthy. " The new building has a courtyard and plenty of natural light." McCarthy notes that at PC, they build high-performance buildings that behave much like a LEED- certifi ed building. However, the decision to not pursue LEED certifi cation for the expansion was due to money and time. " Every stage of design and every system was reviewed from the perspective of maintainability, cost of maintenance, upfront costs and impact on positive environments for the students," he says. " That meant extra work on insulation, glazing, HVAC, drainage and controls." Construction was completed in time for students to occupy the new buildings at the start of the Winter 2009 semester. " The feedback on the new buildings has been tremendous, and the students are pleased," says McCarthy. " There is no comparison to what each building replaced." – Editorial research by Joe Louis construction pricing over the past four years, money became short and we had to realign the bond program due to hyperinfl ation of the construction market." The expansion still included a new Fine Arts building, a new Maintenance and Operations Center, and a parking structure with an integrated public safety offi ce. " The fi rst part of the bond was for the Maintenance and Operations and Fine Arts buildings," says McCarthy. " The M& O building was in the middle of campus, which was inconvenient, and the building was dilapidated. The Fine Arts building was antiquated and not really usable as an arts facility. Now that the programs have moved, the old M& O building will be demolished to make way for the new student union patio, and the old Fine Arts building will be renovated into a Chemistry building." McCarthy adds, " Additional funding that was part of the bond was allocated for other programs that didn't materialize. The District allowed us to use the funds for something tangible, and that's when the parking garage with an integrated new public safety offi ce was added to the expansion." The addition of the parking structure addressed an ongoing problem on campus. " We're located in the middle of a historic neighborhood, so parking has always been a premium. Our fi rst buildings on campus were built in 1938 by the Works Progress Administration [ WPA, a New Deal agency]. We're congruent with the neighborhood, but we're landlocked," says McCarthy. With his background in construction, McCarthy oversaw construction work by D. L. Withers while his colleague Gary Eberhart, the district architect, oversaw the architectural design work by DLR Group of Phoenix. According to McCarthy, DLR worked on the designs for the M& O and the Fine Arts buildings. The parking garage was a design/ build project with Dick Fritsche Design Group and D. L. Withers. Founded in 1981, D. L. Withers Construction is based in Arizona and provides construction management and general contractor services. The team has managed to execute the expansion project without disrupting classes and without making the parking problem any worse. " The April 09 www. bus- ex. com 45 Phoenix College Midstate's goal today remains the same as it was since it began serving Arizona 23 years ago: to build a solid reputation based on excellent service, quality work and long term relationships. We have been honored to work with DL Withers over the past 20 years. We are a full service mechanical company specializing in conceptual budgeting, virtual design and green technology. Midstate Mechanical