Home → Projects → St Vincent’s Public Hospital Emergency Department

St Vincent’s Public Hospital Emergency Department

Restructuring works to one of Australia's busiest emergency departments

The upgrade of St Vincent’s Public Hospital Emergency Department required an adaptive and collaborative approach to deliver the design finalisation and restructuring works over a seven stage/18month program.

The project presented many challenges including reduced space during the early stages, high needs patient volume (which increased as COVID-19 began), works separation strategies and complex stakeholder engagement.

The project delivered a new six bed Psychiatric Alcohol and Non-Prescription Drug Assessment (PANDA) Unit as well as an expansion of the Psychiatric Emergency Care Clinic (PECC) to expand the capacity and improve patient experience of one of Sydney’s largest hospitals.

Maintaining operations of a busy emergency department during COVID-19

During the works, the team developed solutions to ensure the busy emergency department remained operational with no decline in capacity or functionality. The project’s stages were designed to ensure no interruptions to essential services and continued access to the ambulance bay and loading dock.
 
The team kept the works separated from the hospital staff and patients by implementing:
  • Strict infection control guidelines
  • Dust and noise monitoring
  • Controlled access in and out of the works zones
  • Strategies to limit cross contamination. Staged hoarding locations were planned to the millimetre whilst ceilings and associated services were thoroughly separated from works so lifesaving activities could occur immediately adjacent to the work site.

The project was aided by ongoing collaboration and communication with the Hospital’s user groups and stakeholders throughout design and construction works.

Client

St Vincent's Hospital Sydney Limited

Architect

Billard Leece Partnership

Contract sum

$14m

Program

72 weeks

Completion

June 2020