Team members from Connecticut Children’s, DPR Construction, Cannon Design, Salas O’Brien, Colliers, and trade partners dressed as superheroes to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new eight-story clinical tower.

“I can’t think of a better way to officially kick off the start of this project than with all of our superheroes here,” said Bob Duncan, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Connecticut Children’s. “It certainly takes superhero strength and vision to build the future of children’s health.”

The health system’s communications and project teams strategically planned the groundbreaking on National Superhero Day, an event held annually, and celebrated for 10 consecutive years by Connecticut Children’s. The team took a break from fighting crimes to honor the children and family’s fighting for their lives.

It took more than a year of collaborative preconstruction planning to reach this milestone and start construction. To alleviate the program constraints of the hospital was of critical importance to right-size each department’s space while working within the client’s budget and expediting the project schedule. To accomplish these goals, the team used integrated project delivery (IPD) and lean construction principles. Through Big Room sessions, the team built a strong partnership, which facilitated a cohesive target value delivery program designing, planning and ensuring constructability within budget. Pull planning sessions supported the development of the design and construction sequencing to meet the first patient date.

The project is the next step in the hospital’s growth and expansion strategic priority providing two floors of private neonatal intensive care rooms, a fetal care center, operating rooms, a gene therapy unit, and acuity unit. Open-air terraces will be located on inpatient floors for families and team members to find respite. The 190,000-sq.-ft. expansion will connect to the existing hospital and is scheduled for completion in late 2025.