Children's Hospital Construction Activity This Week

Children's Hospital has begun construction activity in preparation for the new Building Care, Forest B, Phase 2 of the expansion, planned to open in Spring of 2022.

The 310,000 square-foot addition will add an eight-story building and will includes diagnostic and treatment facilities, primarily out-patient cancer and others) labs, new state-of-the-art operating rooms, 20 inpatient beds, and a lobby. There will be two floors of underground parking and sterile processing. This will bring SCH bed total to 409, up from 200 before its expansion 2012 plan.

The helicopter landing pad has already moved temporarily to the roof of Forest A (176’), now known as Friends of Costco Building, Phase 1 of the expansion. The landing pad will be active for the next four years, until Building Care is completed Noise is expected to be louder than the former ground-based helipad. When Forest B is complete, the helistop will moves to its permanent location on top of the Friends of Costco Building (same height).


The Hospital posted this information on their Construction Blog about specific construction activity this week: 

• Activities south of Forest A (near the loading dock and NE 45th Street): pour footing; add gravel backfill
• 7/27: set fuel tank with crane truck. No parking will be allowed on either side of 40th Avenue NE south of the Metro bus stop, and traffic will be narrowed to a single lane in that area; flaggers will provide traffic control. A crane and support truck will be used on site. The fuel tank will be delivered on a truck that will park on the east side of 40th Avenue; once the tank is offloaded, the delivery truck will depart and the tank will be placed on the east side of 40th Avenue and re-oriented. The tank will then be set in place on Children’s property using the crane. The bus stop will remain accessible at all times and the sidewalks on 40th Avenue NE will remain open except when the crane is being used over the sidewalk.

• Install rebar and pour concrete for curbs, walls, footings, columns, and pads/slabs

• Install windows and fabricate metal panels for exterior mock-up

• Set column cages

• Install scaffolding

• Waterproofing for walls

• Install deck over excavated elevator pits

• Install plumbing and electrical

• Backfill some excavated areas

• Internal and external activities on River level 6: patch roofing; replace ceiling tiles; clean affected area

• Internal and external activities on River level 7: pour curbs; install bolt templates/embeds for future skybridge

• Internal activities on L1 of Forest A (Friends of Costco Building): drill firestop penetrations; install infection control barriers; install communication pathways; shut down existing medical gas alarm panel and install power; install new medical gas alarm panel; clean affected area

Construction noise will be generated all week, with the noisiest external activities being the concrete work and the installation of the fuel tank south of Forest A. The noisiest internal work will be the drilling. Expect heavy truck traffic, primarily from concrete trucks. Construction activity is weather-dependent and subject to change based on conditions.

Call 206-987-8000 or email construction@seattlechildrens.org with questions.