New concept designs for Community Health Centre in Nepean
Concept design for new Community Health Centre introduced under Nepean Hospital Redevelopment.
At the recent Planning and Delivery Committee meeting on 10 October, the functional design brief and schedule were presented to the group and endorsed, allowing the project to progress to master planning and concept design.
Designing a Community Health Centre that can be flexible and adaptable is key for this project and will help inform which community health services will move into this new building.
Site investigations at Soper Place are ongoing, while the project team investigates the best opportunities for the new Community Health Centre. We are still working towards the completion of a master plan by the end of the year.
Patient Focus
As part of the early planning stages for the Community Health Centre, the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District (NBMLHD) completed a Service Statement. It considers current service demands for community-based care across the LHD and future projections, as well as population growth and demographics.
Based on this information, the Community Health Centre at Soper Place will provide integrated community and primary care services for adults with chronic and complex conditions.
Planning, design and construction process
The project is undertaking a comprehensive planning, design and delivery process to deliver the new community health centre in partnership with the NBMLHD.
Master planning and concept design
Now that the lead design team and LHD have an endorsed functional design and schedule of accommodation at Soper Place site, they can move forward with master planning and concept design.
Master planning is where the project team and users discuss how the building will be orientated on the site, where the key access and exit points for vehicles and pedestrians will be, as well as parking zones.
The lead design team includes external organisations who are experts in designing health facilities, including Lineaire Projects (project manager), Sherson Architecture (architect) and MBMpl (cost planner).
Clinical scope
Further work is being undertaken to determine exactly which services and departments will be included in the new Community Health Centre and how the new centre will interact and connect with other community-based health services in the NBMLHD.
Before the full list of clinical services can be locked in, it will need to be reviewed and endorsed by key leadership groups including the Nepean Redevelopment Executive Steering committee and NBMLHD board.
Staff decanting and relocating
Delivering this project will mean that some services may need to be decanted to another location. This is a complex and important step that will take time to figure out. Everyone is working hard to determine the best options, and we appreciate your support and patience.
We'll provide further updates when we have them. It is important to note that services that are not in scope for Soper Place will not close, it's just a matter of finding the right alternative location.
Next public milestone
Our next major milestone for the project will be when we unveil the master plan for the new Community Health Centre. The master plan shows the building's scale and orientation on site as well as parking and site entry.
Upcoming activities and meetings
- The next Planning and Delivery Committee is on 14 November 2023 from 2-3pm.
Key contacts
- Bethany Pade, General Manager, Primary Care and Community Health
- Matthew Russell, Director, Mental Health
- Graham Miller, A/Director, Mental Health
- Rebecca Burrows, General Manager, Drug and Alcohol
For more information visit the Nepean Hospital Redevelopment project page.