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While a half-billion dollars’ worth of state-of-the-art construction work for Oregon Health and Science University buzzes in Portland’s South Waterfront District, another highly technical project on OHSU‘s Marquam Hill campus involves building a building in reverse.

Turner Construction‘s $10 million demolition of the 140,000-square-foot former OHSU School of Dentistry is complicated by tons and tons of hazardous materials, geotechnical considerations with campus-wide implications, and a highly sensitive workplace environment.

鈥淢uch bigger buildings have been demo’d before,鈥� said Brian Newman, vice president of campus development at OHSU. 鈥淏ut because of its setting and a mandate to keep the campus operating and put patient and visitor safety first, it’s a highly complex demolition.鈥�

OHSU is in the process of demolishing the former educational building on Southwest Campus Drive. The dentistry school relocated to the Collaborative Life Sciences Building in 2014 as part of a larger goal of moving some OHSU education programs to the growing Schnitzer campus in the South Waterfront District.

Tearing down the former dentistry school building has two purposes. One is to expand the Casey Eye Institute into a new five-story building that will take up about one-third of the property formerly occupied by the dentistry school. The other purpose is to prep the remaining two-thirds of the property for hospital expansion.

Several factors complicate the effort. For one, the dentistry school building was built at the height of asbestos use in construction, and all of that material must be slowly and carefully abated. After approximately six months of work, that effort is nearly completed. The next six months will involve shoring and structural work, including adding steel tiebacks to the hillside. The reason is that the existing building is deeply embedded in the hill and, on the opposite side, helping hold up Campus Drive.

鈥淪o before we just tear out the building, we have to do lots of work to support the hillside and to support Campus Drive,鈥� Newman said.

The shoring work is expected to wrap in late September, which is when visitors to the campus would be able to start seeing the building come down. But don’t expect a swinging wrecking ball 鈥� the actual demolition is contracted to be done in a slow, controlled process, Newman said.

By August 2018, the site will be cleared and ready for the $45 million Casey Eye Institute expansion. That project will add 50,000 to 60,000 square feet to serve in particular the Elks Children’s Eye Clinic at the eye institute. The project also involves adding space for the institute’s genetics and retina programs, as well as some imaging space.

It’s OHSU’s first project designed by Seattle-based architecture firm NBBJ. Skanska is the general contractor.

All the work led to another change at OHSU. Like many large institutional owners, OHSU has used project management firms to serve as owner’s representatives and shepherd projects. But to oversee the current capital campaign, OHSU has staffed up with around a half-dozen project managers for the South Waterfront work alone. Keeping project management talent in-house will help OHSU retain expertise and institutional memory, Newman said.

鈥淪o, as long as we have a major project every couple years, we can do this,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e don’t know that it will always be the case 鈥� there could always be a recession. But that’s a risk anyways, right?鈥�

The newly formed 鈥淢ajor Projects Team,鈥� led by Bill Bowen, joins approximately 45 employees in OHSU’s Campus Development division.

Ongoing OHSU projects

Knight Cancer Research Building: $190 million

Center for Health and Healing South phase II: 聽$360 million

Casey Eye Institute expansion: $45 million

School of Dentistry demolition: $10 million