The South Australian government has appointed a multi-practice consortium to design a major new hospital in Adelaide.
The “A+” consortium comprising Woods Bagot, Bates Smart, Jacobs and UK practice BDP will together design the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
The project, to be co-located with the Royal Adelaide Hospital by Silver Thomas Hanley Designinc, will include a range of health facilities for infant, child and maternal services, including birthing suites, neonatal, antenatal and postnatal care, child and adolescent mental health facilities, paediatric emergency department, and surgical wards.
The design team will produce a masterplan and concept design study, which will culminate in a schematic design to inform cost modelling for a final business case.
Woods Bagot director Thomas Masullo said, “Bringing critical fresh thinking to the new hospital, the A+ team will combine the clinical with the creative to imagine and implement new international benchmarks for women and children’s health in Adelaide. We’re here to develop the scheme for a viable, profoundly functional building with people and wellbeing at the heart of its design.”
The project team have previously worked on health facilities including the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne (Bates Smart with Billard Leece Partnership) and SAHMRI 1 and 2 (Woods Bagot).
Mark Healey, a studio director at Bates Smart, said, “My experience leading the interior design of Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital has given me great insight into how integral these buildings are in the fabric of their communities. There is a level of personal investment in such a project which makes the design journey richer and more rewarding.”
The project team will also engage with hospital staff and the community “to provide a facility which will be positively life changing for so many South Australians, while being as sustainable as possible to run and operate,” Jacobs’ global technology director for healthcare, Matthew Holmes said.
UK-based BDP’s previous children’s hospital projects include the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, Great Ormond Street in London, and Dublin Children’s Hospital.
“Having spent my entire career in the design and delivery of healthcare facilities I have a genuine passion for delivering great patient and staff focused facilities which benefit the communities they serve and leave behind a legacy of which all involved can be proud to have delivered,” said BDP director Paul Johnson.
Lindsey Gough, CEO of Women’s and Children’s Health Network said, “The design process will look at how the new WCH will be configured externally and internally and will determine the best way to integrate the new WCH with the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH), and Adelaide Biomed City.
“The plan for the new WCH will be based on contemporary and emerging designs for women’s and children’s hospitals and will be informed by consumer and staff engagement.”
The state government has committed $500 million to inital planning for the hospital. South Australia’s health minister Stephen Wade said, “The threat posed by the coronavirus highlights the critical importance of the Marshall Government’s plans to deliver world class health facilities for South Australians.”
