Construction News & Updates

Read our construction updates each month as we make progress on the new hospital expansion!

June 2012 Update

After nearly 7 years of planning and 4 years of construction, the ribbon cutting event for our new main hospital, site park, underground visitor’s garage, and Research 3 building occurred on June 11th. This is a tremendous milestone for Nationwide Children's Hospital as we move further into the 21st century with our new healthcare facilities. We are heading full speed ahead to “Go Live” on June 20th.

It seemed back in September, 2008, when we officially broke ground, that 4 years would be plenty of time for our largest construction project ever to be completed. Well, it was enough time. But I can say that to get to this point in time, there has been a huge amount of effort provided by hundreds of people to make this grand transformation of Nationwide Children's Hospital into one of the best pediatric facilities in the country.

There is not much more to write about now that we have officially dedicated the new campus facilities. It has been a great adventure these past few years as I have shared details about structural steel beams and columns, reinforced concrete frames, post tensioned concrete, special “Betty Crocker cake mix” dirt, worm benches, mushroom benches, aluminum glass curtainwall systems, steam lines, air handling equipment, terrazzo flooring w/ the “mixer guy”, tower cranes, the installation of the Honda Civic in Physical therapy area, wall graphics, way finding design, construction mock ups, helipad details, chillers and boilers, and IS systems. The list goes on and on.

The one item I have not shared is some details about our “animal friends”. These friendly critters are key to providing a pleasant and less stressful visit to NCH as a child. They were thoughtfully designed and specifically constructed with the utmost care. I have included a few photos of some of our “friends” that you may have seen already. I have also included a number of pictures taken during the NCH staff picnic and our Campus Dedication Ceremony.

I hope you have enjoyed this adventure of construction as much as our design and construction teams have here in Engineering Services. We look forward to renovating the older sections of our campus as many of our “backfill projects” begin to unfold. Several projects are already in the design stages and construction will be starting very soon as various departments move into our new main hospital building. Stay tuned as we endeavor together to enhance our campus and continually look for ways to make Nationwide Children's Hospital the very best pediatric healthcare facility available. I was at the dedication ceremony and my hope is that all the wishes hung on the Wishing Tree do in fact come true.

• Dr. Steve Allen, CEO, provides some opening remarks at the Dedication Ceremony.
  
• Abigail Wexner, Board Chair, shares some thoughts about our Wishing Trees.
  
• Great view of the new building and site from the roof of Research 3 building.
  
• Our new logo looks fantastic
  
• View of the “big tent” from the roof of Research 3 Building.
  
• Setting up the stage for Harry Connick Jr. to perform.
  
• The final touches in the tent are being completed.
  
• Meanwhile, a cleaning crew is going over the exterior glass from “top to bottom”. These guys are amazing.
  
• A view of hospital building at the corner of Livingston Avenue and Parsons Avenue where we have specially designed LED “light sticks” glowing. These can be programmed a thousand ways to enhance the site park.
  
• A view of the site park and Research 3 building from the L Garage. What a marvelous look at dusk.
  
• In the evening the fragrance maze comes alive with special “mushroom benches” that glow with different colors.
  
• There are numerous donors which have stepped up and contributed to the construction of our new facilities. An example of one of our site donor signs is below. Scott’s Miracle-Gro contributed to the construction of our Central Locust Bosque.
  
• Just inside our new Lobby, “the rabbit” is poised and ready to greet our families.
  
• Mr. Duck began as some sketches, then a small scale mock-up was created. I think he is looking at one of his other friends which is yet to be carved.
  
• Mr. Duck is in the early stages of being cut, carved, and finished. I didn’t know they used a chain saw to rough out the initial shape. I need to get me a pair of those bright colored pants!
• Some of the final shaping is taking place for Mr. Duck (well that’s what I call him)
  
• The “Duck” on the 5th floor ready to greet our patients and families.
  

The Staff Picnic

• The NCH staff picnic event on Saturday, June 9th
  
• I think the “tall guy” is trying the show the horse how to juggle.
  
  
• Our own employees here at NCH are very mobile. They presented their own version of a Mob Dance during the picnic. Perhaps it will go viral on YouTube soon.
  
  
• There were a number of activities on site during the picnic. You could get your portrait drawn by an artist, jump on a bungee type gizmo, zip line in the city park, face paint your friend, listen to a special drum group, chill out with some ice cream sandwiches, or listen to a DJ spinning some tunes on a digital phonograph.
  
• I was too big to jump on this but the younger smaller crowd had some fun.
  
• There have been some key people on the design and construction side involved to make the exterior portion of our facilities top notch. Below is a photo of this group. A few were missing in the photo but are recognized below.
  

Front Row (left to right) on the mushroom benches: Gary Schmitt, Project manager w/ Turner Smoot; Brian Ezzell, Owner’s representative w/ The Georgetown Group

Back Row (left to right) standing: Joe Massey, Assistant Project Engineer w/ Turner Smoot; Dave Wohlwend, Construction Manager w/ Nationwide Children's Hospital; and Rick Espe, Principal in Charge w/ MKSK Landscape Architects.

Not pictured: Lavonne Grosjean, project landscape architect w/ MKSK; Eric Lucas, Project Manager w/ MKSK; TR Mason, Owner’s representative w/ Project Control Systems; Gary Claar, Project Manager w/ Nationwide Children's Hospital (behind the camera)

The author of this construction update was found sleeping in a nook of the magic forest …….. dreaming of the next construction update!