Christiana Care Health System, Skanska USA Host Topping Out Ceremony for Wilmington Hospital in Delaware

WILMINGTON, Del. Christiana Care Health System, commemorated the structural completion milestone at Wilmington Hospital during a topping-out ceremony on the top floor of the public parking garage on the hospital’s campus. Christiana Care leaders were joined by leaders from the construction management firm Skanska USA, which is overseeing the expansion. The project is expected to be fully complete in 2014.

The $215-million expansion is one of the largest building projects in Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic region. Once complete, the new 386,000-square-foot facility will include a new 10-story patient tower and plaza that will feature new mechanical facilities, 16 treatment rooms in the new emergency department, three new operating rooms and 60 new patient rooms with the flexibility to fit out more tower floors for future growth. The project also boasts a new Gateway Medical Office building and Junior Board Healing Garden.

“Christiana Care’s Wilmington Hospital has had the privilege to serve its neighbors in the great city of Wilmington for more than a century, meeting the community’s diverse needs by bringing the highest level of quality and service to the entire population,” said Edmondo Robinson, M.D., MBA, FACP, physician-in-chief for Christiana Care’s Wilmington Hospital. “This latest achievement at Wilmington Hospital underscores our determination to serve our neighbors by providing premier value for decades to come.”

So far, the 10-story tower’s concrete structure is approximately 40 percent complete.   Skanska has used 5,500 tons of recycled material throughout the construction process to date. The project is expected to achieve LEED certification.

Throughout the construction process, Skanska has successfully maintained the hospital’s operations and a peaceful environment for patients, staff and visitors. Opening a temporary entrance for hospital users, Skanska was able to begin the second phase of excavation, which included blasting the existing rock to create the tower’s footings and foundations. Skanska contracted with a vibration monitoring firm that was present at all blasts. Through extensive planning meetings between the blasting subcontractor, team members and key personnel from Wilmington Hospital, the blasting program successfully removed the rock in a safe manner and had minimal impacts on the hospital’s operations, including ambulance and emergency department traffic.