Texas Children’s Hospital in Austin Tops Out

Texas Children’s Hospital for children and women in North Austin recently topped out. To celebrate the construction milestone, those involved in the project gathered at the site for the topping out and traditional tree hoisting. The 52-bed, 365,000-square-foot hospital will bring top pediatric and women’s care to families in Austin and central Texas, as part of Texas Children’s expansion plan. McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. broke ground on the hospital in May 2021, with construction scheduled to be complete in 2024. Page is serving as architect on the project.

McCarthy has continued to meet project milestones, while facing multiple challenges, including supply chain issues and labor shortages, while working through a fast-paced schedule of simultaneous construction of the hospital, outpatient building, central utility plant and parking garage. With competition for both materials and manpower, the company leveraged its regional craft resources and partnership with Adaptive Construction Solutions, Inc., which was formed to recruit and train veterans for careers in construction trades and craft labor. The veteran’s apprentice program gives workers off and onsite training that includes technical and safety training before beginning work.

Approximately 40,000 cubic yards of concrete were poured in less than six months. Drones were used onsite to provide aerial videos and 360 degree photos, allowing virtual access the project. The field team used the footage to coordinate work programs to ensure the schedule was moving forward appropriately. Additionally, during the design phase, subsurface mapping was conducted, which provided a thorough understanding of the utilities that lie beneath the jobsite.

The main hospital offerings will include, but not limited to:

• neonatal intensive care
• pediatric intensive care
• operating rooms
• epilepsy monitoring
• sleep center
• emergency center
• fetal center for advanced fetal interventions and fetal surgery with a special high-risk delivery unit
• heart center
• cardiovascular intensive care
• renal dialysis
• state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging
• acute care
• onsite urgent care location

The adjacent 170,000-square-foot outpatient facility will provide added value by directly connecting patients and their families to numerous subspecialties, including cardiology, oncology, neurology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, rheumatology, fetal care, dialysis and more.