Construction Begins for Children’s Hospital of Michigan

A beam-signing ceremony on Aug. 25 signaled the official start of construction on the new Children’s Hospital of Michigan in the heart of the Detroit Medical Center Midtown Detroit campus. Patients, their families, community members and DMC executives and staff joined the celebration, inscribing messages and well wishes on the 1.65 ton beam, which was placed as the cornerstone of this project.

Designed by Shepley Bulfinch, the new Children’s Hospital of Michigan will house pediatric researchers, clinicians and innovators in heart health, emergency medicine, critical care, neonatology, hematology/oncology, nephrology and other disciplines. The foundation will be a new 248,800-square-foot, six-story tower that will house the latest in emergency, surgical, critical care and radiology services. A new family friendly main entrance and lobby will feature dramatic two-story ceilings and an 8,842 square-foot curved wall of rainbow-colored glass, one of a number of features to delight and engage young patients.

The new hospital’s Lean integrated facility design process incorporated feedback from patients and their families, employees and medical staff.

The hospital will offer a ground-level emergency department with 48 exam rooms and four trauma bays. Larger neonatal and pediatric units will feature private rooms for the most critically ill babies and older children. These rooms, which will be twice as large as existing facilities, will accommodate doctors, residents, nurses, support staff and patients, with space for parents to stay comfortably with their children.

The hospital is scheduled to open in 2017. The joint venture of Brinker/Barton Malow is the project’s construction manager.