Mayo Clinic is planning a $5-billion expansion of its Rochester, Minn., campus. The hospital’s board of trustees recently approved the plan and selected Gilbane Building Co. as construction manager for the project, which it calls Bold. Forward. Unbound. The estimated cost is the highest of any hospital project currently planned or under construction in the U.S., according to an ENR analysis of Dodge Construction Network data. 

Gilbane launched a page on its website for subcontractors interested in becoming prequalified for the project. 

Plans by Foster + Partners and structural and MEP engineer CannonDesign call for five buildings totaling 2.4 million sq ft plus related infrastructure and utilities at the downtown campus. The largest piece would be a pair of clinical buildings at the center of the campus on the current site of administrative offices and a parking structure. A skybridge would link the new construction to the existing Gonda Building, where the clinic provides outpatient practice services.

Future structural expansion would be possible, according to Mayo Clinic. Care spaces would also be made flexible with a universal grid and “generous” floor-to-floor heights so they can be easily modified to allow for integration of future medical treatments and technology. It would be a first-of-its-kind health care facility, according to the hospital.

“This is a revolutionary moment for medical care and a complete rethinking of the traditional hospital building as we know it—offering maximum flexibility for future needs while ensuring that the interest of the patient remains at the heart of their health care,” said Norman Foster, founder and executive chair of Foster + Partners, in a statement. 

Demolition and construction are expected to start next year and take six years. The Mayo Clinic aims to open some of the facilities in 2028 and the remainder in 2030.