Wellington Hospital
Location: Newtown
Completed: 2009
The upgrade of Wellington Hospital for Capital Coast District Health Board was a huge $350 million project across multiple sites and stages in Wellington and Porirua. The centrepiece is the new state-of-the-art, seven-storey regional hospital in Newtown on a 1.4-hectare footprint. Strategically very important, the hospital has been designed to withstand major earthquakes and has the largest “rattle space” of any building in New Zealand. It employs base isolation technology - a combination of lead, rubber and Teflon bearings that slide above the basement carpark level when the earth moves and which will allow the hospital to remain operational after a 7.8 magnitude quake.
Due to the scale of this project we brought in partners Beca consulting engineers in a joint venture, which also involved:
- seismic assessment of several buildings for temporary decanting and strategic planning
- alterations to the structure of the Children’s Hospital
- seismic upgrade of the Total Energy Centre
- alterations to main ward block at Kenepuru Hospital
- a new psycho-geriatric unit at Kenepuru
- temporary ramps and connections during the multiple stages of work
- significant civil engineering alterations across the site – roads, car parking, sewage and drainage