DPR Construction recently celebrated the topping out of Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU’s (CHoR) new 16-story “Wonder Tower” with the placement of the structure's final steel beam. DPR’s construction team is proud of their work and the benefit it will have for future generations within the Richmond community. With the support of their families, construction team members have dedicated their time to the project’s success. The final beam showcased drawings from DPR Richmond’s team members’ children to honor this support. Reaching this milestone was the result of extremely close collaboration and coordination with CHoR, JLL, HKS and the project’s trade partners.

"DPR has been a great partner,” said Elias Neujahr, CEO of CHoR. “They've worked diligently with our teams in helping us construct this once-in-a-lifetime transformational children’s inpatient hospital. When I look at the dedication of their teams, not only to the project but also working with our child life teams and going above and beyond to make sure that we're supporting our children and families, they've exemplified the very best of an outstanding partner.”

The 500,000-sq.-ft. facility was built on an active downtown hospital campus, on a tight site with zero material laydown. DPR and its strategic partner Digital Building Components were able to coordinate materials to be prefabricated offsite to help keep the adjacent Children’s Pavilion building serving its patients safely and to keep the project on schedule. To increase collaboration on the project, DPR staff, trade partners, the architect and owner’s representatives are all working together in a Big Room adjacent to the construction work.

“The Big Room culture is all about partnership and teamwork,” said Matt Franklin, Senior Project Manager for HKS Architects. “We knew we were one project team for the CHoR, and we knew what the goal was to deliver this project to VCU Health. We all became part of the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU project team.”

The 260’ tall “Wonder Tower” connects to CHoR's outpatient Children's Pavilion. The tower itself will increase access to the pediatric department while consolidating the emergency and inpatient care into a singular building made to meet children’s needs.

The new hospital is part of a comprehensive plan to address the needs of the community. CHoR aims to continue bringing world-class people and programs to Richmond and remains a destination for children and their families seeking exceptional health care, as well as a destination for research and educational opportunities.

Jason Maxwell, a DPR project executive celebrated the team’s achievement.“We see the parents walking through the building with their children that are going there for service every day. We see the result of what we're going to be doing for this community,” Maxwell said. “This experience has made a personal impact because, in light of the events of the last year, we are proud to help VCU Health and CHoR provide a hospital that's dedicated just for children in our community.”

DPR’s long-standing relationship with VCU Health started with an elevator improvement project back in 2011. From there, DPR continued to help VCU Health with a variety of Special Service Group (SSG) renovation projects, renovated the entire Perioperative Services floor while keeping operating rooms operational, and helped construct VCU Health’s first design-build hospital and medical office building projects in South Hill, VA.