Texas 2010 rank: No. 20
Green rank: No: 18
McCarthy Construction Co. joined the green movement a few years back, responding to client demand for sustainability and a greater understanding of environmental concepts by company leaders.
“It was dual driven, one from the market and one from a philosophical commitment to the importance of sustainable building,” says Mark Elroy, a project director with McCarthy in Dallas. “We’ve taken steps to calculate our carbon footprint and then look at ways of reducing that.”
McCarthy operates smoke-free worksites to ensure improved air quality. The company encourages carpooling by its employees and subcontractors, offering those workers preferred parking. It routinely recycles jobsite waste. More than 17 members of McCarthy’s Texas team hold LEED-accredited professional designations. The company measures sustainable metrics and includes that data when evaluating McCarthy’s performance.
This fall, McCarthy completed the 1 million-sq-ft headquarters for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas in Richardson, an approximatley $145-millon project, which is expected to use 17.5% less energy and 30% less water than traditional buildings. The company has recently started two projects aiming for LEED certification: the $31-million, 124,000-sq-ft Dallas City Performance Hall, aiming for LEED-silver, and the $100-million, 240,000-sq-ft Midland Memorial Hospital addition and renovation, seeking LEED certification.
