This project is the result of a unique partnership between Loma Linda University and Social Action Community Health Services (SACHS), a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). The 151,860 s.f., three-story medical office building uniquely combines a community clinic with a gateway college, healthy eating bistro and demonstration vegetable garden. The new facility provides patients with primary, dental, ophthalmologic, and OB/GYN care, assistance with enrollment for medical insurance, and classes in nutrition, diabetes care and other topics. It also delivers opportunities for high school students and adults to prepare for careers in health (such as medical and clinical nurse assistants, and pharmacy and surgery technicians), and offers medical residents at Loma Linda University School of Medicine a setting for clinical rotations.

The project delivery was driven by lean, integrated practices, with all disciplines actively engaged in applying minimum cost for maximum value. Constant, open communication between design and construction teams meant cost was visualized, managed and reconciled in real-time. In addition, waste in the form of materials, time, and effort were tracked and minimized throughout.

With whole person patient-centered healthcare as the objective, LEED certification with a focus on health seemed a natural extension. The initiative that began with asbestos abatement of a former commercial/industrial site, ran like a current throughout the design and construction process and into the everyday operation and programming of the facility. Even the site was designed to be used as a teaching tool, with a garden of mixed edible plants adjacent to the community classrooms, and another showcasing medicinal plants integrated into the vegetarian café’s outdoor dining courtyard. The project was awarded LEED-NC Silver certification.