UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals President Nicholas Holmes, MD, MBA (center), cuts a ceremonial ribbon alongside clinicians and staff during the opening celebration for the new Children's Neuroscience Specialty Unit (CNSU). Photo by Raymond Ibale

By Heidi Anderson - Article was originally posted by UCSF Real Estate

When UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco (BCHSF) opened in 2015, it was designed to meet the needs of a growing pediatric population. As patient demand continued to climb, hospital leadership began partnering with UCSF Real Estate’s Health Design & Construction team to reimagine existing space and expand inpatient capacity.

On July 21, 2026, the teams celebrated the completion and activation of a six-year effort, marking the first expansion of the Mission Bay hospital since it opened in 2015. The project added 10 inpatient beds, including eight beds for the hospital's first dedicated Children's Neuroscience Specialty Unit, creating specialized space for pediatric patients with complex neurologic conditions while increasing capacity for children requiring transitional care.

"This project demonstrates how thoughtful planning and close collaboration can transform existing hospital space to meet evolving patient needs," said Kayla Henson, Associate Director of Project Delivery, UCSF Real Estate Health Design & Construction. "Working within an active children's hospital required careful coordination to overcome logistical challenges while minimizing disruptions to patients, families, and caregivers.”

The new eight-bed Children’s Neuroscience Specialty Unit is located on the first floor in the southeast corner of the hospital. The unit is specifically designed for patients with conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord, and nervous system that require specialized monitoring and care. Each of the patient rooms includes epilepsy-monitoring technology for patients experiencing chronic headaches and epileptic seizures. The unit also features a nurse station with a pneumatic tube station, a central epilepsy monitoring room, physician workspaces, a medication preparation room, clean and soiled utility rooms, a family pantry, a unit director's office, and storage rooms. The design features a quiet, light-filled unit with a calming, wavy motif and a blue lighthouse. Patient rooms include a private bathroom and shower, a family sleep chair, large TV monitors, and west-facing exterior windows.

The unit's opening also creates capacity for more patients in the acute care or transitional care unit at Mission Bay, where pediatric neuro patients had previously been treated. On the fifth floor, the renovation added two additional beds in the existing Children’s Transitional
Care Unit for patients who no longer require intensive care but still need a higher level of medical or nursing support. To do this, the project team relocated two multipurpose rooms adjacent to the Children’s Transitional Care Unit to create space for a two-bed expansion and to relocate an existing isolation room. Hospital leadership identified an underused family lounge on the north side of the floor as the new location for the multipurpose rooms, which supported construction of the new patient rooms. The $29 million renovation was funded through California Prop. 4, a 2018 state bond initiative for the construction, expansion, and renovation of children’s hospitals. 

UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco Bed Expansion Project Team:
 

•  BCHSF Hospital Leadership, Children’s Neuroscience & Neurodiagnostics
  teams, and Children's Transitional Care Tea
• Real Estate Health Design & Construction: Kayla Henson and Cambridge CM's Henry Tam
• Architect of Record: Perkins & Will
• General Contractor: Pankow Builders
• Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomassetti
• Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Engineer: WSP
• Wayfinding Design: Clearstory Inc
• Signage Design: Natalia Gil-Hurtado (Real Estate) and GNU Group

Read about this project in the story, “New Children's Neuroscience Specialty Unit to Streamline Service” on the UCSF Health intranet, The Bridge.