Photo credit: Richard Poulton Photography
Premier global construction company Multiplex has completed Canberra Hospital’s new Yamba Drive Entry, a year since the delivery of its landmark Critical Services Building. It marks the completion of the Critical Services Building package of works, a major milestone in the Canberra Hospital Expansion Project. This is the largest healthcare infrastructure project undertaken to date by the ACT Government.
Designed by high-profile architects BVN, the project delivers a new entry point to the hospital via Yamba Drive. It also features a new Veteran’s Garden and an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lounge with abundant outdoor space and a yarning circle.
The completion was marked on-campus with a traditional Smoking Ceremony and blessing of the Veteran’s Garden, attended by ACT Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith.
Multiplex and the project’s design team worked closely with Infrastructure Canberra, hospital and community stakeholders, including patients and their families, to create a welcoming and uplifting arrival point – resulting in innovative design elements such as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lounge.
The new entry has been upgraded to include a new lobby with gift shop and café, new seating, a wheelchair collection point, public art and new green space. Connectivity to the precinct is enhanced with a new bus stop while a new courtyard area provides recreational space for hospital staff.
Canberra Hospital’s Anzac Day artefacts, including flagpoles, plaques and boulders, were relocated and new rosemary bushes were planted in a nod to Australia’s war heroes.
David Ghannoum, Multiplex Regional Managing Director for NSW and the ACT, said that the project’s completion was testament to Multiplex’s expertise in delivering complex health projects.
“We are proud to complete the Yamba Drive entry and new bus stop and mark the overall completion of the Canberra Hospital Expansion Project. It bolsters our track record in delivering complex healthcare builds and is the capstone of this world-class health precinct, set to support the local community for years to come,” Mr Ghannoum said.
Multiplex constructed the new entry by first undertaking structural demolition of the existing buildings within Canberra Hospital’s former Emergency Department. These were then replaced with structural steel roofed canopies, extensive off-form concrete retaining walls, and paving throughout the external works.
Challenges were posed by construction and demolition taking place on a constrained site, within a live hospital environment. These were overcome through continuous engagement with hospital stakeholders over the course of construction works and by implementing respite periods where needed. Works within the hospital were also staged out-of-hours to allow Multiplex to upgrade the internal lobby within minimal impact.
Now fully complete, the Canberra Hospital Expansion Project provides the growing Canberra community with a state-of-the-art medical facility. The highly sustainable hospital recently achieved 5-star Green Star as-built certification.
Multiplex completed the eight-storey Critical Services Building, Australia’s first fully electric hospital building, in August 2024. It provides 45,000 square metres of purpose-built healthcare space, including a new Emergency Department with a dedicated children’s emergency area, an expanded Intensive Care Unit, 22 new operating theatres, extra treatment spaces and additional inpatient accommodation.
It also features the Welcome Hall, a new main reception designed in collaboration with the local community that honours First Nations peoples with artwork by local Indigenous artists.
Multiplex has strong credentials delivering hospitals and healthcare facilities across Australia, currently completing more than $5 billion in health projects nationally. These include the Eurobodalla Regional Hospital on the NSW South Coast and the new Footscray Hospital in Victoria.
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