In 1956, SSM (Sisters of St. Mary) Health opened Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, as the nation’s first free-standing, not-for-profit Catholic children’s hospital. Since then, the hospital has been recognized as one of the best children’s hospitals in the nation.
To meet today’s clinical, technological, and family support requirements, SSM Health has made the decision to build a new facility. Construction is now underway on the new pediatric academic hospital in midtown St. Louis, with McCarthy Building Companies serving as general contractor and design-build partner.
“The new pediatric academic hospital will allow SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital to expand and enhance its nationally recognized specialty care to meet the rapidly evolving needs of children and families across the region,” McCarthy Project Manager Gwen Arenberg said.
The new hospital is designed to:
- Expand capacity from 192 to more than 200 inpatient beds with the ability to add 20 more
- Support one of the St. Louis region’s only AAP-designated Level IV NICU for newborns
- Enhance patient- and family-centered care with larger rooms, more natural light, more playrooms, and dedicated respite spaces for families
- Integrate technology and research capabilities to advance pediatric care well into the future
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“Overall, the project addresses the need for modern clinical environments, improved efficiencies for care teams, and a healing environment designed for both outstanding medical outcomes and family support,” Arenberg said.
The facility was designed to meet the needs of patients, families, and medical staff and incorporate the latest best practices.
Notable design features supporting patients and families include:
- Larger patient rooms with more space for family presence and improved privacy
- More natural light through larger windows to promote healing and emotional well-being
- Family-friendly playrooms and dedicated respite areas for parents, siblings, and extended family
- A rooftop helipad to improve safety and efficiency for critical patient transport
- An outdoor terrace adjacent to the cafeteria to support self-care for families
- An entrance designed to serve all families, regardless of socioeconomic status or background
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Features that will support the medical staff include:
- Greater efficiency in room and unit layout to enhance nursing care and environmental services
- Dedicated spaces for physician training and rounding, reinforcing the hospital’s academic mission with Saint Louis University
- New operating rooms, advanced cardiovascular and critical care units, and expanded PICU capacity
“Every design component was shaped through deep collaboration with the hospital’s clinical users to ensure the facility supports world-class care for decades to come,” Arenberg said.
The SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital is set to stand in the heart of midtown St. Louis, just north of SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital.
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The site keeps the new facility within the same medical and academic ecosystem and near the current SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital location. SSM Health has not yet announced long-term plans for the original hospital.
Constructing the over 505,000-square-foot, 14-story hospital on an active medical campus has presented McCarthy and the team with several challenges. The new hospital is immediately adjacent to existing SSM Health facilities.
“The proximity to the current facility brings a different kind of complexity: we must maintain access to other medical buildings and parking, limit noise and construction debris, and minimize disruptions at some of St. Louis’ busier traffic intersections,” Arenberg said.
“We’ve approached this challenge through intensive logistics planning and close day‑to‑day coordination with SSM Health, sequencing work, deliveries, and haul routes so hospital operations, emergency access, and the surrounding neighborhood can continue to function safely while the project moves forward,” she added.
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The location and tight footprint have impacted the choice of equipment. The team is using a high‑capacity tower crane capable of lifts of 55,000 pounds. Arenberg noted that the capacity is important for safely handling large structural elements and sizable mechanical and prefabricated components, while still working within a tight urban footprint and over an active campus below.
The site itself once housed the Pevely Dairy facility, a dairy established in the 1880s. The team had to work around a complex, pre‑existing underground utility network that was not designed for a modern, 14‑story children’s hospital.
“Our team conducted detailed underground mapping, followed by extensive pre‑drilling and rock excavation, so we could understand exactly what was below grade and prepare a clean, stable foundation for the new structure,” Arenberg said.
This challenge has also affected the equipment the team is using. For the foundation work, the team has relied on specialized drilling equipment to install hundreds of deep-drilled piers — up to about 35 feet — through rock and into competent bearing strata.
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“The equipment, paired with extensive pre‑drilling and rock excavation, has allowed us to create a robust foundation system on a geologically and historically complex site, while controlling vibration and managing subsurface conditions in a predictable way,” Arenberg said.
Another challenge McCarthy is facing is meeting the aggressive schedule without compromising quality or budget certainty. This challenge has led them to leverage advanced planning and execution strategies that align the entire project team around a shared plan.
Through Takt scheduling, pull planning, and daily field huddles, the team maintains precise workflow sequencing, addresses issues in real time, and sustains consistent production across all work areas.
“Our disciplined, collaborative approach has allowed the project to move forward efficiently while maintaining high standards of quality, schedule reliability, and cost control,” Arenberg said.
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The complex construction process goes beyond concrete and steel. The McCarthy-led design-build team is coordinating a significant scope of medical equipment planning, procurement, and integration. This includes:
- 25,000 line items of equipment from 415 manufacturers
- 33 medical equipment meetings with hospital clinical users
- 15,817 construction document pages dedicated to medical equipment specifications
- 38 site-specific vendor drawings covering 138 rooms
McCarthy is leveraging a table-ized formwork system that showcases self-performed concrete capabilities and further supports schedule and quality objectives. It also helps them keep the project on schedule.
“This approach transforms what would traditionally be a piece-by-piece, handset process into a highly repeatable, crane-set operation for much of the tower construction,” Arenberg said. “The tables are flown, stripped, and reset as complete units, reducing labor demands, shortening cycle times, and minimizing variability between pours, delivering greater predictability in cost, schedule, and overall quality.”
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McCarthy, a 100 percent employee-owned company, has been around since 1864. One of the largest contractors in the country, McCarthy has called St. Louis home for more than 100 years.
“Our team was deeply interested in this project because the hospital is a beloved, mission-driven pediatric hospital in our hometown,” Arenberg said, “and many of our team members are Glennon families and active supporters themselves.”
Construction on the hospital began in spring 2025, and it is scheduled to be completed on time in summer 2027. The project is being funded via SSM Health and a capital campaign for SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.
- Owner: SSM Health
- General Contractor: McCarthy Building Companies, St. Louis, Missouri
- Designer: HKS, Dallas, Texas
- Planner: The Lawrence Group, St. Louis, Missouri Photos courtesy of McCarthy Holdings Inc.
