The beautiful Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children is now 10 years old—why it matters

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Here at Bham Now, we love sharing the exciting things happening in The Magic City, and one of the most magical things is when companies work together to do something great. That’s exactly what happened 10 years ago when Hoar Construction worked with Children’s of Alabama to build the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children. Keep reading to learn more about the project and see how everyone celebrated the anniversary.

All about the Benjamin Russell Hospital 👏

The Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children may be only 10 years old, but it’s already been an important place for thousands of children and their families to feel safe and calm while they undergo the typical stresses of a hospital stay.

The single largest hospital project in Alabama’s history included 2.8M highly-coordinated work hours, three years of construction and phenomenal attention to detail.

Throughout the project, the team kept one thing at the front of their minds: the patients. Through construction, the team stenciled the names of 200 children in the foundation to inspire everyone to work harder each day.

Some fun facts you might not know about the hospital

Do numbers mean more to you than words? I’ve got you covered with a quick list of some of the most important stats you need to know about the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children.

• 762,000 square feet
• 340 bed replacement hospital
• 4 connector bridges & 1 tunnel under street
• 35,000 square-foot green roof
• LEED Gold Certified
• 200+ names of young patients on the building

Celebrating 10 years 🥳

There’s nothing like a birthday party, especially when it’s a celebration for something that’s already made such a big impact. To celebrate 10 years of the hospital, the teams at Children’s of Alabama and Hoar Construction came together.

“The people who work here are what make this place special, but the place they work in helps us do our jobs. People come here and see this beautiful hospital, and they admire it. Our partner in this building, Hoar Construction, wanted to help us celebrate that anniversary and they came up with something very cool.”

Tom Shufflebarger, President + CEO, Children’s of Alabama

Children’s of Alabama patients (and maybe future builders) spent the day wearing hard hats and building with Legos. To wrap it up, the Hoar Construction team read the patients a children’s book they wrote all about building the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children!

What it means for Alabama children 🌟

This hospital isn’t just a building—it’s a place where patients and their parents can rest and receive some of the best care in the country.

“It’s a very special treat to be here with mothers and children who are benefiting from this facility. I’ll tell you that 12 years ago, before the facility was built, we put our crew together and we toured the hospital and saw all the services that were going on and it touched each of us to the point where we knew our mission was not to build a building, but to build a facility that would serve Alabama children for years.

That is a lot more fun than building a building: knowing the special needs that were being served. We were so touched by that, that during construction our crew came up with the idea and painted the name of all the children on the frame of the hospital. So, every child admitted into the existing facility during construction, we painted their names on the structure, and some of that comes out in this book.”

Rob Burton, CEO, Hoar Construction

To learn more about Hoar Construction and their projects, check out their website + follow them on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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