W. N. Pennington Health Science Center

The William N. Pennington Health Science Center was truly a collaboration from all team members including the owner, design team and Q&D. From the idea to expand the local nursing program, to the concepts and aesthetic execution to the budget and schedule management through final construction, every member of the team stepped forward with innovative ideas, joining forces to move the project forward.

“Through a strategic fundraising effort during the economic down-turn, along with partnerships with Van Woert Bigotti Architects and Q&D Construction, the college was able to create a health science center to house not only nursing but also the radiologic technology and veterinary technician programs.”

– J. Kyle Dalpe, Ph.D.
Acting President, Truckee Meadows Community College

The Center’s Nell J. Redfield Nursing Wing represents the expansion and consolidation of the Truckee Meadows Community College Maxine S. Jacobs nursing program to train up to 32 more nurses per year, expanding our local healthcare workforce and helping to address a deficit of trained nurses in the Reno-Tahoe region. It also houses radiology and veterinary technician programs, two other in-demand healthcare roles. It is a modern nursing-skills and healthcare educational facility with real-world simulation labs and robotic patients so that nurses and healthcare staff are better able to help diagnose and treat human patients in the future roles in clinics, doctor’s offices and hospitals

TMCC saw a community need, matched it with student interest and demand for learning, envisioned and with their own budget, and help from the William N. Pennington Foundation and other generous donors, realized the Center.

Van Woert Bigotti Architects combined their considerable expertise in campus buildings, medical facilities, and interiors for educational facilities to create a clinical education facility that feels welcoming, open, and bright and which includes colonnade entries, iconic towers, comfortable collaborative study areas, auditorium-like classroom settings. Innovative features include full-wall white board space, use of flooring material for ceiling accents and decorative sound panels in coved areas to reduce sound transmission in open spaces.

As the CM at Risk, Q&D provided budget guidance, VE alternatives and constructability feedback that maintained the architectural character of the project. The final result looks much like the initial renderings, demonstrating that value engineering can achieve balance between strong architecture and tough budget constraints.

The site was sloped, requiring significant site improvements to raise the pad for the expansion to match the existing building elevation and there were high moisture levels, adding dewatering and interfering with floor slab finishes. The area of Reno experiences intense winds, up to 90 miles per hour, causing issues for the team with site protection and dust control. The schedule was phased to accommodate students using the existing facility while Q&D retrofitted a portion of it and connected the new addition to the building. The schedule was fixed, as the team had to ensure grand opening prior to the start of the new semester. Q&D worked closely with the NSHE purchasing team to reduce tax burdens on the project through innovative procurement strategies.