Start 5: Prentice Women's Hospital and Maternity Center
Cost: $502 million

The Prentice Women's Hospital and Maternity Center will replace the 29-year old facility with the same name in the Northwestern Memorial Hospital's campus in downtown Chicago.

Space at the existing hospital has exceeded the capacity for growth, said Patrick Knightly, senior project manager with Northwestern. The number of deliveries, for example, has more than tripled from 3,000 annually in the mid-1970s to more than 9,000 in 2002.

More room is also required so that women's health programs can expand.

The 18-level facility, one below grade, will encompass 938,000 sq. ft. of space on Superior Street. It will be able to accommodate 13,500 births, making it third largest maternity center in the nation.

A full range of health services will be offered, including genetics, infertility, cardiology and breast health. About 100 physician offices will be in the hospital.

The facility will have 256 beds, of which 134 will be dedicated for ante- and post-partum patients and 28 for obstetrics and gynecology.

There will be 32 labor and delivery rooms, 144 bassinets and 10 operating rooms.

Building in Streeterville

Logistics are playing a major role in the project early on because of the Streeterville site and the building itself, Knightly said.

The hospital is located between Superior and Chicago streets and just west of Fairbanks, an area with a lot of pedestrian and car traffic. Barricades were put up, and parking lanes were taken.

Routes were planned for deliveries because substantial truck deliveries every day will be needed during the height of construction. The steel-framed structure will have a precast concrete and curtain wall facade.

Because of the nearness of other structures, an earth-retention system was required, Knightly said. Three sides will be retained with slurry walls and the fourth with a steel sheeting system.

Sheeting was installed on one side, rather than a fourth slurry wall, to avoid causing the collapse of a nearby city sewer during the sitework.

Wood piling foundations for the support of previous buildings were removed, but caissons were kept, he said. Transfer beams were installed to shift building weight to multiple caissons.

Medical systems will be purchased as late as possible in case new technology becomes available that can be installed.

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