Valley Health Center Morgan Hill

In April 2020, Coffman’s Los Angeles office was brought onboard to provide structural, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, code consulting, and fire protection system engineering for an emergency conversion of a previously abandoned and neglected 160,000 sf acute care facility into a facility capable of testing, triaging, and caring for COVID-19 patients. The scope included a comprehensive interior reconfiguration and reconstruction, central plant facility upgrades of aging and failing systems, and mechanical/electrical/plumbing upgrades within the building, all to be completed under incredibly quick turnaround deadlines with the added pressure of rising COVID-19 case counts. It was clear the team would be building while designing, so Coffman focused on being flexible and fast.

This project required seamless teamwork and constant communication between the County, architect, and contractors. Coffman’s multidiscipline advantage helped make the overall project more efficient by taking as much coordination effort off the architectural and construction teams as possible. Coffman embraced creating a remote and local team and used the team’s digital tools (Openspace.AI, Matterport, and ProjectInertia) to provide rapid responses. By the opening date in October 2020, Coffman utilized over a dozen engineers and designers, many of whom were available after hours and weekends, to keep construction moving while meeting project deadlines.

Coffman continues to support further upgrades to the Valley Health Center Morgan Hill facility including multidiscipline engineering services for upgrades to the Central Plant, tenant improvements for a new 20,000 sf PA-19 clinic, seismic support at new IDF rooms, and installation of a new bulk oxygen system, a new water softener system, a new medical vacuum system, a new boiler system, a new generator, and a new medical air system.