A new lease on life for hospital
BY PENNY WARDLE
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Wairau Hospital has been brought into the 21st century with the completion of the second of four stages in a $45.7 million rebuild.
These are moving times at Wairau Hospital. This month the laboratory, emergency department and high dependency and acute assessment units as well as clinical records and support services staff shift to new premises.
Radiology makes the move on March 4.
Demolition of the northern end of the clinical services block begins next month making way for the next stage of the rebuild. Construction is two thirds of the way through with 470 days worked and just over 200 to go.
As Nelson Marlborough District Health Board project director Martin Ridgway describes it, the major investment in the rebuild has secured the hospital's future.
When the board applied to the Ministry of Health for funds to rebuild the hospital, competition for capital was intense, he said.
"The need for new facilities here was great. Staff were trying to alter and adapt old buildings to new techniques which was inefficient," he said.
One example was the high proportion of multi-bed wards in old hospital buildings when the trend was towards single and double rooms.
Both stages of the redevelopment project so far were completed within budget, said Mr Ridgway.
"We have been lucky. The construction market has eased and we have benefited from a very competitive marketplace," he said. "Five years ago it might have been a different story."
From chief executive John Peters to consultants and contractors, the redevelopment team was acutely aware of avoiding budget blow-outs so maintained tight control on expenditure, said Mr Ridgway. Quantity surveyors were employed at every step of the design process to check that plans matched the funds available.
Contractors worked on fixed contracts, carrying the risk of cost over-runs once building had begun.
Pinned to the wall of the project meeting room is a partnering charter signed by consultants from Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington, including a commitment to meet in Blenheim every two weeks to walk the site together.
Overseeing the project has been a management team of four from Auckland-based Hawkins Construction, plus two quantity surveyors employed by the fully owned New Zealand-owned company.
While the big guns came from outside the district, more than 60 per cent of the organisations involved were Nelson or Marlborough based, said Mr Ridgway. At the peak of the project there were 130 workers on site.
Whenever possible, all materials were sourced in New Zealand although the "buy local" policy was suspended for specialist equipment, such as operating theatre fittings which were imported from Australia.
Keeping 500 staff at Wairau Hospital in touch with what's happening as contractors carry out a major rebuild has been a challenge for District Health Board project administrator and communications co-ordinator Susannah Findlay.
Being married to the project's site manager, Matthew Findlay of Hawkins Construction, had helped oil the wheels of communication, she told The Marlborough Express.
The Findlays moved to Blenheim in October 2008 from Christchurch, where Mrs Findlay worked in marketing for women's clothing manufacturer Snowy Peak. Two weeks after they arrived the site communications co-ordinator took maternity leave and she agreed to fill the gap.
Employment on a huge construction project had been an eye-opener, said Mrs Findlay. There were plenty of technical challenges for the tradespeople involved, such as dealing with gases and maintaining critical temperatures and pressures without interrupting hospital services. Spaces below the floor and above the ceiling were as important as the rooms between, being packed with critical pipes and cabling with fire sprinklers installed.
"The room holding the CT scanner has to have special glass to stop X-rays escaping the room and the floor of radiology has to be especially strengthened to support the weight of the equipment."
When the project's completed, the hospital will be connected by 1.3 kilometres of corridors.
Staff are kept in touch with what's happening via newsletters, emails, flyers on noticeboards and especially direct contact. If a power outlet or the water was shut down or a jackhammer was working, for example, people in the affected area were warned ahead of time.
Stage one was relatively straightforward as building took place on a vacant site but stages two and three were taking place "slap bang in the middle of the hospital", said Mrs Findlay.
She's been impressed at how well staff have coped with change. While the rebuild sometimes made life difficult, they were looking forward to working in new facilities.
The public had found their way about a constantly changing site with the help of maps, signs and directions from staff "who do a great job of spotting lost people", she said. Especially challenging, would be the emergency department's move on February 16. "We can't just say it's closed for the day," she says.
The question Mrs Findlay most frequently faces is about the fate of the old brick nurses' home which has housed administration staff and redevelopment project offices during the rebuild. "This is an important building to the community which hasn't been included in the redevelopment project," she says. "A lot of staff lived here when training and often point out an office that was once their room."
The Health Board is yet to decide on the future of the building. The cream part of the nurses' home with boarded up windows was due for demolition.
- The Marlborough Express
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