→
READ MORE
More Industry Leadership
Next: High Steel Takes on the Largest Transportation Design-Build Project in the Nation>>
Courtyard by Marriott-Lancaster Sets the Pace for Environmentally-Conscious Travelers
At a Glance
- 2,700 solar panels located on the roof of a nearby warehouse occupy 135,200 square feet
- Guests can see a meter display and take pride in choosing this first-solar-powered Marriott
- Guests notice no difference in the function of electrically-powered amenities at the hotel
- High received a grant of $504,900 from the Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA) for the project
“Our guests now have the satisfaction of knowing that they are staying in a hotel that’s fully powered by the sun.” - Russ Urban, President of High Hotels Ltd.
A Growing College for a Growing Community
The Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences (PA College), dating back to 1903, needed to bring to bring its several Lancaster County facilities together in one location.
The community college, with more than 1,400 students and 300 staff, trains students to enter the growing health care economy in Central Pennsylvania and beyond. Plans for future expansion required a centralized campus with room for continued growth.
Enter High Construction Company, High Associates Ltd., and High company Greenfield Architects Ltd. (and design consultant Stantec Inc.). Working in unusually close collaboration with the college and community, they transformed an empty warehouse and office building into a $65 million state-of-the-art campus in just 18 months from design to completion. The new facility opened in August 2016.
The empty warehouse became the new academic/teaching building—the 253,000-square-foot Emmett M. and Ann C. Cooper Building. It includes classrooms, laboratories, some offices, 10 new skylights, and dining, auditorium, and workout spaces as well as a new 117,943-square-foot second-floor mezzanine and 27 acres of parking space.
“We were all in this together. If one of us fell here, the other picked up over there. That really developed the sense of trust. I can’t say enough about the collaboration,” – High Construction Company President Rick Stoudt.
For the administrative building, the team brought a drab office building back to life as the 67,000-square-foot Kenneth G. Stoudt Building. They converted the space into attractive new offices, a kitchen, a dining room, and meeting rooms enclosed in glass to foster openness to new ideas and achievements.
Want to Take the Next Step?
Check out our Construction and Real Estate positions:
APPLY NOWHIGH MOBILIZES EXTENSIVE RESOURCES
Few local developers command the diverse resources and vision to transform an office building and warehouse into a state-of-the-art campus for training the health care leaders of tomorrow—and do it in less than 18 months.
The new campus, located at 850 Greenfield Road in Greenfield Corporate Center, is a showplace of technology.
A 310,000-square-foot adaptive reuse project, the new campus is a learner-centered environment for its more than 1,400 students and 300 staff.
“This is a true partnership," said president Mary Grace Simcox. "As a result, we have an exceptional college campus where we can achieve extraordinary things.”
“I can’t say enough about the collaboration. We were all in this together.” - Rick Stoudt, President of High Construction Co.
A Striking Collaboration between the High Companies and the Community: Success Factors
“The PA College is a Central Pennsylvania treasure,” says Mike Shirk, CEO of the High companies. “We share the same values and commitment....Together we overcame the challenges with extraordinary teamwork.”
Success factors included:
- Saving 90 days’ build time by pre-ordering the steel as well as the rooftop HVAC units
- Daily schedule checks and weekly supervisor/foreman meetings, eliminating many potential construction problems
- Timesaving job sequencing (overlapping tasks)
- Overall cost reductions from time saved through strong collaboration
Why High?
No question, the strong bond between the High companies and the community was the driving factor in completing the PA College campus so quickly and economically.
The High companies takes commitment to the community seriously and every member of the team was as passionate about success as the next.
At the High companies, we are fortunate to work with a team of talented and engaged coworkers, as well as the very best customers, business partners, and community leaders throughout our many locations in the Eastern and Midwestern United States.
While our headquarters and our organizational roots are planted firmly in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania—a vibrant and distinctively hardworking community that strongly influences who we are as a company—the values we espouse, including honest hard work, trustworthy relationship-building, and innovative leadership, are shared by all coworkers throughout the High companies.
