Project Details
Client: Nemours
Date: February 21, 2017
To continue to grow as a national leader in children’s healthcare, the A.I. duPont Hospital for Children is expanding to provide family-centered care. The new facility, connected to the south side of the existing hospital, includes a new 435,000 square foot patient pavilion with 200± single bed private rooms, an expanded emergency room facility, a 193 space parking garage, and amenities to support patients, families and caregivers. The need to maintain all existing hospital services during construction, while sharing the historic 314-acre property of Alfred I. duPont with the Nemours Mansion and Gardens, posed many planning and engineering challenges.
VanDemark and Lynch, Inc. first provided topographic and utility surveys. We then developed a site plan that worked within the previously developed space, did not infringe on the historic structures of the site, and provides the necessary access and parking for the new building expansion. We provided civil engineering services including the design of green technologies such as bioretention, underground infiltration and storage structures, and the restoration of an existing stormwater basin to achieve the required stormwater quality and quantity management. We also designed an optional 220,000 gallon underground water harvesting cistern to collect storm runoff for re-use through the irrigation system. Accommodating the location of the building with basement and elevated deck parking required the relocation of the Hospital’s primary ring road, ground level parking lots, storm sewers, sanitary sewers, and fire water lines. The project also included new primary underground electrical and gas services. We prepared the required record, construction and permit plans in accordance with New Castle County and State regulations. V&L continues to provide services during construction to resolve conflicts with undocumented utilities typically encountered when excavating within an historic site.