The Victorian government will deliver Australia’s largest hospital project in history through the creation of a medical mecca containing the Royal Melbourne and Royal Women’s hospitals.
The masterplan, designed by Hassell and McBride Charles Ryan, will see the redevelopment and expansion of the Royal Melbourne and Royal Women’s hospitals in Parkville alongside the creation of a new biomedical precinct in nearby Arden.
The premier revealed that the medical precinct will be built next to the new Arden train station, with the Parkville and Arden precincts linked by the Metro Tunnel. Once complete, Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop will connect the sites to other important health complexes, such as the Box Hill Hospital and the Austin Hospital.
The $6 billion expansion and complete overhaul of the existing hospitals will take place over 12 years, providing an additional 1,800 beds and treatment spaces. Works on the Arden precinct are now underway.
Designs for Australia’s largest health infrastructure project, including the overhaul of existing hospitals and the construction of a new medical precinct.
Image: Hassell and McBride Charles Ryan
Hassell principal and health sector leader Leanne Guy said the redevelopment will ensure the ongoing viability of the existing facilities into the future, while creating a new precinct to support the needs of the growing state.
“The Parkville masterplan will help take the precinct from where it is to where it wants to be, linking key elements of the existing precinct infrastructure so these two great institutions can fulfil their promising future – a future with endless potential.”
Minister for transport infrastructure Jacinta Allan added that the government would support the improved health system via better transport connections.
“We’re also investing in the transport infrastructure we need to make it easier for healthcare workers and patients alike to get where they need to go,” Allan said.
Planned treatments, like births and elected surgeries, will move to the new campus once it is completed. By the beginning of next decade, an additional 10,500 elective surgeries and 2,500 births could be accommodated every year.
Construction will start in 2025, once the Arden station is complete, and will take six years. An architect has not yet been engaged to deliver the project. Stage one of the hospital will be completed in 2031.
