Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora, Beca and project partners gathered at the New Dunedin Hospital site on August 28 for a significant project milestone – the blessing of the new Outpatient Building.
The New Dunedin Hospital | Project Whakatuputupu is one of the largest health infrastructure investments ever undertaken in New Zealand. It is being delivered in two stages, with the Outpatient Building opening to patients in 2026 and the larger Inpatient Building opening in 2031.
Spanning five storeys and comprising around 15,000 square metres, the Outpatient Building brings together outpatient clinics, day procedures and radiology services including MRI, CT, X-ray and ultrasound.
Beca provided a range of services including building services engineering, fire engineering, and sustainability services for the Outpatient Building, and is also part of the team working on the Inpatient building.
“Sometimes it’s easy to forget how much the buildings we engineer really do make a difference to people’s lives and this building certainly will. The New Dunedin Hospital is a hugely rewarding project to be part of,” Beca Project Director Justin Hill says.
“The New Dunedin Hospital project was deliberately designed in two stages. The Outpatient building is the first stage, and includes more than an Outpatient facility typically would. It includes additional functions that will support patient care until the Inpatient building, the second stage, comes online. In the meantime, it will take some of the demand from the existing hospital, which will be a great thing for the community,” Beca Design Lead Graeme Wills says.
“What made this project particularly enjoyable was how well all parties worked together, including the main contractor, the subtrades, client and the design team – it has been a collaborative approach to the build. For me, this has stood out as a great project for that reason,” Graeme says.
“For our local South Island-based team, this has been a fantastic opportunity to work together on a project that will make a big difference to healthcare in the South,” Beca Southern Regional Manager Amber Comley says. “Backing up our local team is the wealth of technical knowledge held by our healthcare specialists across New Zealand, Australia and Asia. People from right across the Beca Group have contributed to this project,” she says.
The project team will be at a free community day which is planned for Saturday 12 September, giving locals the chance to explore one of New Zealand’s largest infrastructure projects and see the progress that has been made towards delivering a modern healthcare facility for the people of Otago and Southland.