Construction Blog

Fence Remodel and Landscaping Work along NE 45th Street Taking Place Monday, April 9

On Monday, April 9, some work will be taking place along NE 45th Street adjacent to the Building Hope construction site. Work includes opening up part of the fence on the east side to remove the brick wall and grade the area, which should be complete by end-of-day Monday. On Tuesday, crews will perform work to tie into the storm drain. They anticipate having the work complete by the end of the week, including sidewalk and fence replacement.

Sellen will have people in place to assist pedestrians around the work area. After hours, the work area will be covered, temporary fencing will be in place and the area will be secured for pedestrians.

Although the work will not impact street traffic, activities will be visible from NE 45th Street.

 


Building Interior Work

The work on the exterior of Seattle Children’s Building Hope expansion is clearly visible, but an enormous amount of work is taking place inside the new building too!

Crews are working hard to install the metal stud-framed walls that make up most of the interior partitions, as seen in this photo. They are also installing fire sprinklers on all floors, and running duct work for air handling units and conduit for all the power and lighting systems. Read full post »


Ground Covers, Grasses and Trees… Oh My!

Last week we shared how Seattle Children’s is incorporating green roofs into the new Building Hope expansion.  But there’s also a lot of green that will make its way back to the ground around the new expansion in the coming months.

Before the construction site was cleared, over 4,000 plants were saved so they could be replanted around the new expansion. They’ve been lovingly cared for by Children’s Grounds Maintenance team. Read full post »


Livable Streets Initiative Moving Forward

Neighbors, employees and patient families can look forward to the streets around Seattle Children’s becoming easier and more comfortable to travel. After gathering and evaluating information for more than a year, we completed the final report for our Livable Streets Initiative. It paves the way for building five projects this year – including a new traffic signal at 40th Ave. NE and Sand Point Way NE and a bidirectional cycle-track with separate paths for bikes and pedestrians along our frontage with Sand Point Way NE. Read full post »


Turning Gray Roofs Green

Many natural elements are being incorporated into the Building Hope expansion, not only for healing and aesthetic purposes, but also for environmental friendliness and sustainability.

A feature starting to take shape on the new expansion are the “green” roofs… which are literally roofs covered in vegetation. Read full post »


Waldo’s Fun Fast Factoids

Hi Waldo fans! If you like to play trivia games and guess about how things work — like how much, how big, how many, how long, how far and how heavy — I have a fun list for you! See if you can guess some answers to these fun questions about the construction site:

Are there any construction jobs that women can’t do?

No, women can do any of these same jobs that men can do! Anyone who has the right training can do the work. Women are just as good at it as men, too.

How many days will it take to make the new hospital building before it’s ready to open (from start of construction to end of construction)?

482

How many hours of work will it take to make the new building, start to finish?

800,000

How many tons of dirt were moved to prepare the construction site?

34,272

How many gallons of water does the water pond hold?

40,000 Read full post »


NE Seattle Greenways Group Kicks Off

On Saturday, Feb. 18, more than a dozen people gathered in a coffee shop near University Village to organize for the creation of ‘greenways’ on their neighborhood streets.

Greenways are quiet neighborhood streets that have been improved to lower speeds, reduce traffic and make a trail-like experience for walkers and bicyclists of all ages. Many cities throughout the country have invested in greenways, most famously Portland, OR where it is almost impossible to bike or walk around without being drawn into one of these quiet, low-traffic streets by the signs and pavement markings that seem to call out to you every few blocks. Read full post »


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Mock Patient Room

Guest Blog from Todd Johnson, VP Facilities

It has been exciting to see the exterior work on the building begin and interior construction is starting to take shape. I spent some time over the past month working with our construction and internal teams to create a ‘mock’ patient room. Until now we have only been able to use cardboard and tape to develop what we believe will create an optimal patient experience and new model of care. It has been great to see a real room take shape. Read full post »


Floating Bridges in the Sky?

You may have noticed the sky bridge currently under construction that is connecting the existing building to the Building Hope expansion across five floors. Designing it was a challenge for a variety of reasons: the slope Seattle Children’s is built on; creating fire lane access below the sky bridge; working around multiple underground utilities; and accommodating very different earthquake movements of the two connected buildings.

After considering many options, it was determined that the best solution was to design the sky bridge as a floating structure, with joints at each floor level between the adjacent buildings. The design also incorporates a sloped steel truss that allows the eastern half of the sky bridge at each floor level to hang from a pair of diagonal columns.

Read full post »