South Australia’s State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) granted development plan consent to the second South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) building in Adelaide, at a meeting on 12 July. A development plan consent grants approval for change of land use.
Woods Bagot are the architects behind SAHMRI 2, which will be built adjacent to the original SAHMRI building, also designed by Woods Bagot and completed in 2013.
SAHMRI 2 will house an advanced clinical and research facility, including the Southern Hemisphere’s first Proton Therapy Unit. The total cost of designing and constructing the facility is expected to be $273 million.
“A purposeful and restrained approach has informed the design of the tower component, with repetition of glass panels, rectangular curtain walling and sun shading system, creating an elegant and sophisticated design aesthetic,” the architects said in a statement of the concept designs at the time of their release.
SAHMRI 2 by Woods Bagot.
Image: Woods Bagot
SAHMRI 2 will be built on a corner site of Adelaide’s new health and research precinct on North Terrace, located at the north-west corner of the CBD. The building will have three frontages, one to North Terrace and the city, one to the nearby river, and one to Adelaide’s convention and entertainment precinct.
The granting of consent for the development plan by the SCAP means that demolition of the existing buildings on the site can commence.
SAHMRI 2 will be part of the $3.6 billion Adelaide BioMed City precinct, which is one of the largest health clusters in the Southern Hemisphere. Since the completion of SAHMRI in 2013, the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, designed by Silver Thomas Hanley and DesignInc, opened in 2017, while the University of Adelaide established its Health and Medical Sciences Building, designed by Lyons Architecture, and the University of South Australia built the Health Innovation Building, designed by BVN and Swanbury Penglase Architects.
The proposed Proton Therapy Unit for cancer treatment will deliver the most technologically advanced, precision radiation therapy in the Southern Hemisphere.
The South Australian government will contribute $44 million to the project while the federal government will pay $68 million. The building is expected to be completed by 2021.
