By Healthcare Facilities Today

Construction has been completed early on the new seven-story patient care tower at Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange, Calif. The building, which triples the size of the hospital’s existing inpatient facility, is scheduled to open at the end of March. 

McCarthy Building Companies Inc. of Newport Beach, Calif., served as general contractor for the project.

“By using design-assist delivery and incorporating BIM technology, McCarthy and its team of subcontractors identified several critical discrepancies that could have been detrimental to maintaining the project schedule,” said Waldo Romero, CHOC Children’s vice president, facilities, design and construction, in a press release. “Through this proactive approach, the project team was able to mitigate these discrepancies before construction began, ultimately beating the schedule and allowing CHOC to open its doors sooner to care for the children of our community.”

Designed to be one of the most advanced, safest children’s hospitals in the world, the state-of-the-art 425,524-square-foot tower includes the region’s only dedicated pediatric operating rooms, emergency department, imaging department and laboratory.  

The design team gathered input from parent and youth advisory groups, including current and former patients as well as physicians and staff to ensure the new building met their needs. As a result, patient and family amenities include an in-house broadcast multi-media center, pre-teen and teen rooms, a patient outdoor play area, a café and outdoor garden, a family resource center and a meditation and prayer center.

FKP Architects of Houston, Texas, is the design architect and architect of record, and WBSA (Wood, Burghard & Swain Architects) of Irvine, Calif., is the construction administration and associate architect.