The largest capital improvement project ever on the campus of Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak is currently one of the largest construction projects in Michigan.

The 656,000 square-foot South Hospital project will include 430 beds, surgical services, radiology, nursing units, a pharmacy, offices and other support departments. Beaumont is spending

$227 million on the nine-story project, which is scheduled for completion in September 2004.

On Nov. 12, iron workers from Local 25 and Douglas Steel topped out the structure - which brought out a mixture of the men and women from the trades wearing hard hats and Carhartts, and the men and women from Beaumont wearing white coats, suits and ties.

"It has been the great work by the men and women who work here, and the work of construction manager Barton Malow and the 42 subcontractors who have contributed their time and talent to in getting us to this point," Beaumont Senior Vice President and Hospital Director Jim Labriola said during the ceremony.

More than 3,500 tons of steel will frame the South Hospital project, which will give Beaumont doctors and medical personnel newer, modern space for serving the public. The new wing was attached to the first two floors of the existing Central Tower via a slip connection - "kind of tricky when there are medical operations going on nearby," said Dave Hannah, general field superintendent for Douglas Steel. Hannah expressed particular pride in the work of iron worker apprentices on the project.

A full breakthrough and integration into the Central Tower will take place between 12 and 18 months from now.

"That will be more of a scheduling thing than anything else," said Barton-Malow Project Manager Gary Simmons, who said the tie-in area is where the labor and delivery and neo-natal testing areas currently are located. "We just have to make sure hospital workers and patients are away from the action."

Health care has changed so dramatically in the last 20 years, Beaumont press materials said, that its existing 47-year-old main hospital building "is no longer adequate to accommodate modern medical technology and the demands of today's patients." The health care provider says its patient rooms are too small, and the size of today's hospital beds and medical equipment can make patient care difficult.

Many of the operations of the existing Central Tower will simply be moved to the new wing. The Central Tower isn't going anywhere: a Beaumont spokeswoman said the interior space would be refurbished and reconfigured, some of it into classroom space for educating staff.

"If there have been any pleasant surprises during this project, it has been that there have been no unpleasant surprises," Simmons said. "We're working on getting closed in for the winter, and things are moving along nicely." The most important part of that equation is the early December installation of a 16,460-square foot skylight in the middle of the building, which will shed natural light throughout the building's interior.

The rapidly growing hospital in Royal Oak was the nation's busiest in 1999, admitting 51,359 patients.

There are about 220 construction workers on the South Hospital project, and Simmons said the workers and subcontractors are "top of the line - we have the very best trades people and subs and they're doing a great job."

THE SOUTH HOSPITAL project at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak will peak out at about 285 Hardhats. Most of the iron work is finished, as the structure was topped out Nov. 12.

AN ELECTRICAL CLOSET on the first floor of the Beaumont South Hospital project will be a well-hidden work of art when the building is in operation, so we thought we'd show off the nicely curved conduit now. The artist is Denny Kaye of IBEW Local 58 and Shaw Electric, who is bending pipe. "I've worked with Denny for 15 years, and he's just a terrific mechanic," said Barton-Malow Project Manager Gary Simmons. "I think he did just about all the conduit himself, and it's such an impressive piece of work."