ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Children’s Hospital Colorado marked its fifth anniversary on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colo., by announcing the official completion of a new 10-story, East Tower addition completed by the joint venture team of McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. and GH Phipps Construction Companies. The tower project reunited the joint venture with design partners H+L Architecture and ZGF Architects LLP, the same design and construction team that completed Children’s in 2007. The new 335,000-square-foot tower was completed under an Integrated Project Delivery tri-party agreement that minimized cost and schedule risk for the hospital.
The new East Tower initially adds 94 beds to Children’s, with later expansion available in five floors of shelled space in order to reach a capacity of 500 beds . The new tower helps the hospital expand its focus on specialty services, including housing the innovative Colorado Institute for Maternal and Fetal Health, which begins seeing patients this month. The addition also provides space for the hospital’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, the Children’s Colorado Heart Institute, Orthopedics Institute, Neurosciences Institute, Digestive Health Institute, Breathing Institute and intensive care.
The Maternal and Fetal Institute cares for mothers and newborns throughout a high-risk pregnancy and allows both to remain in the same facility after delivery. The institute has its own entrance to the East Tower, with labor and delivery rooms equipped for full care of mother and child, a maternal operating room, a suite for fetal care and procedures and infant stabilization rooms. The Institute is a partnership involving Children’s, the University of Colorado Hospital and the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
The new tower is the anchor for the $230-million project, which also includes renovations to the existing hospital that will continue through 2014. In bringing the East Tower on line, Children’s comprises 1.8-million-square-feet on the Anschutz 
Medical Campus.
“The reassembly of the original Children’s project team created a situation where all three parties could begin right where we left off only two years earlier,” said McCarthy Project Director Doug Mangers.
“By consolidating the contracts through a tri-party IDP contract we were able to create an integrated project team and harness the strengths of each of the team members,” Mangers continued. “The collaboration and focus on a shared set of project goals allowed our team to complete the East Tower on schedule and under budget, while maximizing the scope that was included in the project. The integrated project delivery method was a success with this team.”
The construction team used Bluebeam® document control for collaborative document management and used mobile kiosks in the field to enable all field staff to have access to project information in real time. Unlike the use of only tablet PC’s and iPads, the mobile kiosks were available to all jobsite personnel when needed. Rapid changes were tracked and documented as they were developed with the design team and implemented in the field to minimize rework and improve overall project efficiency.
“The leading-edge level of care provided in the new East Tower’s Colorado Institute for Maternal and Fetal Health will provide immediate care for sick newborns as well as many other significant advances in prenatal care. The lifesaving procedures that will be taking place here makes our attention to detail even more critical, and our purpose more clear. We believe in the mission of Children’s, and must respond with dedication that matches their own.”
