Advancing Children’s Healthcare Through Visionary Campus Design

Consistently ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the United States, Rady Children’s Health Orange County (Rady Children’s) is investing in the future of pediatric care with a large-scale master plan that will transform inpatient, emergency, surgical and outpatient services, while creating the next generation of research and educational spaces across a multi-site network of care. 

Jacobs has served as Rady Children’s trusted full-service program and construction management provider for more than 16 years, supporting every phase of this ambitious program with tailored services including strategic advisory, estimating, scheduling, safety, cost control, procurement strategy, design and construction management, regulatory coordination, equipment procurement and move management.

Master planning in motion

At the heart of Rady Children’s transformation is the 425,000-square-foot Bill Holmes Tower, a seven-story acute care inpatient facility, which was delivered 64 days ahead of schedule and significantly under budget. Building on this success, the ongoing enterprise master plan comprises over 25 projects, including a 9-story, 330,000 square foot, ambulatory care flagship tower (Southwest Tower), 121,000 square feet of surgical, emergency services, pharmacy, intensive care unit services, imaging modalities, and medical surgical services.

The Southwest Tower was designed entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite global supply chain disruptions and designs completed virtually, all major equipment for the tower arrived ahead of schedule, allowing the building to receive its first patients four days early.

Early in the process, the Jacobs team led the land use and environmental entitlements, securing project approval in just 13 months — about half the typical duration for a project of this scale. Jacobs also navigated and enforced an owner-controlled insurance program (OCIP) that delivered significant net savings to the organization.

Throughout the project, Jacobs established a culture and processes rooted in target value design, executive reporting and strategic decision-making to deliver best-in-class change management practices. The team also managed a full open book guaranteed maximum price (GMP) contract. The result is a one-stop destination for ambulatory services, featuring a range of spaces that enhance the patient experience, a dedicated research floor, a compounding pharmacy, advanced imaging modalities, two lobbies and multiple specialized clinics.

In the Bill Holmes Tower, Jacobs led a Construction Manager-at-Risk (CMAR) Owner-Builder delivery — without a general contractor — for 121,000 square feet of interior remodels across roughly a dozen projects, completing the tower’s remaining shell space. Delivered through lean methods and a full open book GMP, the projects were completed on budget despite a period of market-wide hyperinflation. The Bill Holmes Tower has earned national recognition for its impact and execution, including the Alliant Build America Award for Best New Building Project from the Associated General Contractors of America and Engineering News-Record Best Health Care Project in California, along with a Project Achievement Award from the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) Southern California Chapter. 

Other major projects part of Rady Children’s transformation include:

• Transforming a 13,600-square-foot outpatient clinic into a dedicated Mental Health Inpatient Center, adding 18 patient rooms through a phased tenant improvement strategy.
• Upgrading and expanding critical care environments, including the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Thompson Autism and Neurodevelopmental Center, Primary Care Clinic, Neurology Clinic, Psychology Clinic, and multiple specialty clinics, as well as interventional radiology suites, operating rooms and confidential patient care units.
• Modernizing vertical transportation systems and enhancing clinical and public spaces through elevator upgrades in the North Tower and the expansion of the South Tower lobby and surgery locker rooms.
• Building a 1,200-space parking garage and supporting infrastructure to improve campus accessibility and accommodate future growth.

Jacobs also led extensive make-ready efforts, including the demolition of a seven-story medical office building, a two-story parking structure and a six-story stair tower, as well as the reconfiguration of the Orange hospital’s main entrance to prepare for new construction. The team also completed a research renovation for the California Institute for Regenerative Restoration and delivered a foundation office suite, community engagement center and administrative office improvements.

Designing for purpose

Jacobs’ work at Rady Children’s is rooted in a holistic approach that balances operational efficiency, human-centered design and long-term resilience. To navigate the rapidly changing environment during the pandemic, Jacobs leveraged its strategic depth and collaborative culture to cap Rady Children’s contractual exposures and foster a solution-oriented partnership.

This blend of accountability and performance enabled Jacobs and the project team to implement innovative strategies to overcome challenges ranging from hyperinflation and extended lead times to heightened infection prevention requirements and broader economic pressures. Despite more than one million hours of construction, no patient care was disrupted and Rady Children’s achieved substantial savings on its overall budget.

Equally critical was Jacobs’ ability to co-create and implement new processes with Rady Children’s Facilities and Infection Prevention teams to minimize disruption in an active hospital environment. The team maintained continuous communication, stakeholder engagement and strategic space planning to maximize efficiency and minimize impact.

From confidential patient care units and expanded operating rooms to new research and educational spaces, Jacobs is helping Rady Children’s build a resilient, future-ready network of pediatric care to meet the evolving needs of the communities it serves.