UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO CLARK HALL CHEMISTRY BUILDING RENOVATION

ALBUQUERQUE, NM

In May of 2019, McClain + Yu was selected to undertake the renovation of the Clark Hall Chemistry Building on UNM’s main campus. The original building was constructed in 1950 with a major addition having been added in the early 1970s. Multiple minor renovations over the years led to an accumulation of changes that inhibited the Chemistry Department’s work. The newly renovated building includes state of the art Class Labs, Research Laboratories designed with individual researchers, a Lecture Hall, Department display area, and a total of 32 new faculty offices and 8 conference spaces.

A CMAR project with Bradbury Stamm Construction, the project was able to fund a number of stakeholder needs that were included as Additive Alternates.  Among the additive alternates funded by the project are: Two additional research labs, enhanced building security, enhanced building entrances, and enhanced faculty and student collaboration areas. 

McClain + Yu carefully surveyed the researchers’ and teachers’ needs.  Detailed space analysis yielded efficient laboratory spaces.  Care was taken to integrate laboratory workflow and lab personnel movement into the design.  All lab equipment was inventoried & lab services design was completed early, allowing active CMAR pricing participation.

On an iterative basis performed multiple times during each design phase, McClain + Yu carried out cost estimates of the project. Careful attention was made to calculate material quantities, calibrate unit costs to specifications and to identify items which were unaccounted for. The result was that the project bid on budget.

The entire design team worked on an iterative basis to align the budget with the scope. The budget was unchanged throughout the project.  At each design phase, the McClain + Yu Team, reexamined the budget in detail to see which areas had increased and why.  These were tracked carefully. McClain + Yu designed fifteen alternates for the project.  This allowed for a very precise tuning of scope to budget on bid day. The project is anticipated to achieve LEED GOLD.