Vanessa Clements, planning and redevelopment director, Nepean blue mountains lhd: welcome everyone and thank you for joining us for our Nepean redevelopment all-staff virtual update.
I'd like to start firstly by acknowledging the traditional custodians of our land. So, the Nepean redevelopment acknowledges the traditional custodians on the land of the project stands and pays respects to the Dharug, Gundungarra and Wiradjuri people as the traditional custodians of the land covered by the Nepean blue mountains local health district. We pay our respects to the elders past present and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
So I'm joined today by Paul Issac who is our redevelopment manager and John Kilzi who is the project director from health infrastructure. We're going to cover a few projects today just to give you a bit of an update on where we are the with the redevelopment of the Nepean campus so we'll talk about the stage two main works the child adolescent mental health unit, the community health centre, our new palliative care unit.
And then we do have some questions that have been posed by some of you. So really just to start off a little bit of a recap of what's what is stage two. So we talk about stage two as its own separate project but really it is continuation of the tower which we already have so at completion of stage two both buildings will actually be known as tower.
So stage two really is this new building that will seamlessly connect into our existing tower and it will provide us with a very much needed front door a real focus for Nepean hospital the services provided within the new in our new building will really be those support services that will complement all of the inpatient services that we have in our in our wonderful tower a so other services will include an intensive care unit
Medical imaging and nuclear medicine services an incentive renal diagnosis unit a brand-new paediatric ward and really much needed education and training facilities so that we can really provide the excellent training and facilities to make sure that our staff are able to provide the excellent care and continue to provide the excellent care that we do at Nepean.
We'll have a new front of house and reception area, transit lounge and some non-clinical workspaces for staff so that's a bit of an overview of the stage two tower.
I'll just hand over to Paul to sort of talk us through about the work that's been happening on the campus over the last year.
Paul Issac, redevelopment manager – Nepean blue mountains lhd: thanks, so bit of background and 2023 has been a particularly busy year as i think most people are aware and i think the activity that you've seen and i think most people have been impacted or touched on that activity one way or another, but we are making certainly progress on campus.
Just a recap then starting from the top the north block's been demolished, the rehab service has been relocated across the campus, pharmacy opened in November, the new pathology unit at the bottom of level one of east block opened in august, the cams
Construction is underway close to derby street.
We've also got the project office and our temporary project sheds have relocated, pathology it's now our integrated project office, level six of p1 car park opened in 2020, December 2023 hope cottage and the staff accommodation was also relocated and the hub, executive and other support services relocated in December or January 2023.
In fact and just keep in mind that the upcoming works on campus we'll talk a little bit more about that the upcoming slides about the excavation to the main works, palliative care and we've got community health on campus.
And the good thing for us now on site is that we've got two key focused areas of where the activities is occurring so we got stage two main work so you can see in the centre of the slide and then the cams and the its construction the way close to derby street because the ts building was in the actual main stage two construction site we had to relocate them temporarily to the somerset street so they are temporary locations while we're constructing the t's main building.
But clearly, we're separating the operations of the hospital from the construction on the f-campus although there's some challenges around access but it's lead keeping the activities you know in terms of construction and operations.
John Kilzi, project director – health infrastructure: thank you Paul so terms of construction as pa said we've come a long way it's been a lot of work done leading up to where we currently are in terms of the stage two site we're now setting foundations for the new structure to come out of the ground and that's going extremely well.
We've started with obviously piling at the moment so that's near in completion bulk excavation there's some final cuts being done on site so the land's being shaped to take the shape of the new building as you can see on screen as well over the weekend we had the tower crane go up so it's a major milestone for the project and that will help us in i guess you know delivering the materials required for construction of the structure.
So like i said it's a great master for the project now we do acknowledge that you know the foundation setting is a very you know noisy and sort of challenging time because we've got you know adjacent receivers and that sort of thing so we appreciate everyone's patience during this time but just know that we are trying our best to minimize the noise and vibration impacts throughout construction phase and appreciate your patients during that period.
So also with regard to the child and adolescent mental health services unit in a similar way we're also setting foundations there not as progressed as the stage two works but we are about to commence piling to make way for the slab in the coming weeks it likely be late july where the slab will go down based on current progress on site but again it's very exciting to see this project come to fruition after such a long time and looking forward to delivering a 10-bed service there.
Okay just in terms of the palliative care unit so for those that don't know we're talking about 16 beds and it'll be built on level seven the new stage two tower today there's been a lot of community and staff engagement to inform the design we've just to the process completing the scheme design and that will lead us into the detailed design process and very shortly there will be some artistic impressions or renders that will be available to be able to share with staff.
But just to really acknowledge extensive consultation you know in terms of looking at the location making sure that you know we do have the best fit and access to the health care and the support services on campus but level seven also in terms of location provides the you know the privacy and access to the out outdoor roof space that the users we're looking forward in terms of Penrith community health centre.
So the the new community health centre remains a key priority for us as part of the stage two redevelopment project. Over the last few months the project team has been focused on you know undertaking due diligence and looking at the opportunities around the site for the place and to ensure that we get the best outcome for the project so it is still work in progress.
We expect to be able to recommence the planning and the design and then lead into the detail design for the community health centre later in the year and continuing on from the work that's already been undertaken with community health staff over the past few years so bear with us it is work and it's still a priority for us as part of the project.
Vanessa: thank you Paul so a couple of weeks ago we did extend the invitation for any of you to put some questions to us that you were interested in having answered and thank you to those of you who did put questions forward, so we'll try and answer those for you now.
Female voice: okay first question was are we getting some impatient beds in the new building?
Vanessa: thank you I think probably I’ve already covered this one in one of the earlier slides the new building is very much around providing those support services to support all of our six floors of impatient units that have already been delivered to the campus and providing us a very much needed front door as I've mentioned we will be getting new paediatric ward on level six of the of the new tower and as Paul just mentioned we also be getting our new palliative care unit on level seven
Female voice: thanks Vanessa and another question's come through around patient access to the hospital obviously with construction there's some changes to that and a query around construction workers access to the site as well? John could you talk to that please?
John: yes so I think from construction perspective there is the extent of the site is a lot a bit wider than what you anticipate for the actual tower itself but that's due to the requirement to manage materials handling on site and provide sufficient safe access for the contractor to essentially build the building now obviously that will do significantly. Maybe Vanessa you can answer that part with regards to how that will look on completion but yeah please bear with us while we complete construction and do it safely and comply with new south wales requirements for that yeah.
Vanessa: thank you thank you John, and we really do appreciate that sort of during this construction phase there are sort of fewer points of access into the other parts of the hospital and we understand that that makes life difficult and you know with we're trying our best with way finding to help people find their way around the hospital. Always keen to hear ideas about how we can how we can assist you and assist our community in finding ways around the hospital. I think our interactive map has been a real success and certainly is is accessed frequently. So any other ideas on on how we can make things a little easier to get us through the next the next 18 months or so and i think you'll you're appreciate it's going to be a beautiful a beautiful site once we have stage two completed so thank you for bearing with us.
Female voice: thanks okay we've got a third question around builders and smoking and vaping on the building site, would you be able to add that one John?
John: yeah look, thanks for bringing that to our attention contractors are not permitted to smoke or vape on the hospital campus at all so appreciate that being noted or brought to our attention will action that and make sure that doesn't occur from the contractor's perspective.
Female voice: thanks John and then there's a question i think we put that to you Paul, Barbara Avenue is going to be that main road into the new hospital. Is that going to be the only road and will there be access right through hospital?
Paul: thanks so we as part of the redevelopment team have been working closely with council because we need to ensure you know the safety in terms of access into the new Barara avenue from park avenue keeping in mind that Barara avenue will be used as a main access to that new front of house where we've got the extensive undercover drop off and in the pickup zones.
Unfortunately, there won't be a road that connects internally right through the hospital and the key reason for this is to eliminate the unnecessary interactions between vehicles and pedestrians trying to maintain that safety is a challenge and that's been one of the priorities. We have however rolled out the way finding signage and the campus map to tell patients and visitors to be able to navigate on campus and to be able to choose the best entry and parking when they're attending clinics or attending to the different departments or services on campus.
Female voice: thanks Paul and one last question how many or will there be Nepean signage placed on the new building, and will that be sufficient? With the signage someone here thinks we should have signage on all sides of the building.
Paul: signage has been the challenge and it's been ongoing from the outset from stage one and continues through the whole decant and now into the new stage two in the main works it is our priority to be able to deliver you know something that's easy to locate the new front of house which will in itself will be able to provide a focal point and entry point in terms of way finding for our patients and visitors.
As I mentioned and Vanessa's touched on it we continue to roll out our wayfinding and signage. You know a comprehensive signage package across the campus for the new building that will start at the actual entry points as you're driving onto the campus through the exterior roads and building signage internally and through to you know the departments and to the various locations that you may need to visit.
Vanessa: great so that's it for all the questions so thank you again to those who took the time to put questions in for us. We are committed to keeping you updated and informed about sort of progress on the project. There's a couple of links here for anyone who hasn't already accessed our site. So you can have a subscribe to our regular newsletter. If you just sort of send us an email, we'll put you on our list to receive the updates. We also update our website regularly; our website address is here if you are wanting more information or you can follow us on social media. We are on Instagram and on Facebook.
So once again thank you thanks to John and thanks to Paul for joining me today and we look forward to giving you another update in in a few months' time and please reach out and contact us if you have any other comments or questions thank you thank you thanks everyone.
