Hospital Construction Activity This Week

Building Care, also called Forest B, of Phase 2 of Children's Hospital expansion is underway and the new building is 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 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 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). 

Lights were added to the horizontal swing arm (boom) portion of the tower crane to increase safety for helicopter landings. These are in addition to the lights at the end of the boom and on the crane operator’s cab. The additional lights will help the helicopter pilots in identifying the location of the boom when landing or departing the helipad in the dark. While the lights are visible from the ground, they are not bright enough to interfere with any neighboring properties. As a reminder, the tower crane is scheduled to remain onsite through August 2020.

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

• Pour concrete for walls, shafts, slabs, and pads
• Install fireproofing
• Framing
• Paint
• Set and weld exterior walls
• Install roofing
• Install air flow louvers
• Install glass
• Install mechanical, electrical and plumbing equipment
• Install drywall
• Build out electrical, mechanical, generator and pneumatic tube blower rooms
• Install insulation
• Install fire sprinkler systems
• Install flooring
• Set air handling units
• Install exhaust air, plumbing and medical gas risers
• Power vault buildout by Seattle City Light
• Interior: relocate vending machines to new location on River B level 3; install drywall for new chapel location on River A level 7; install insulation and drywall in lower level 1 of Forest A for future connections; set up infection prevention barrier on level 7 of Forest A for future connections; demolish existing ceiling tiles, rework plumbing and install steel on level 8 of Forest A for future connections

Construction noise will be generated throughout the week. Expect heavy truck traffic, primarily for concrete and material deliveries. Construction activity is weather-dependent and subject to change based on conditions.

All work will take place 8-6pm weekdays and 9-6pm on Saturdays.