‘Nothing new here’ - Health Minister on Dunedin Hospital project concerns

Wednesday, 18 September 2024

The $1.7billion new Dunedin Hospital project includes an Outpatient building (opening next year) and an Inpatient building (scheduled to open in 2029).

It is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the country but its final cost and design are far from certain.

Health Minister Shane Reti said the project remains “under active consideration’.

The new Dunedin Hospital project, which was first announced in 2017, remains “under active consideration”, as it faces cost overruns.

Billed as one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects, it was the subject of an exchange in Parliament on Tuesday night.

Health Minister Shane Reti said the build was likely to be a “waterfall design methodology”, which involved building the project in phases.

That raised the ire of Dunedin North MP Rachel Brooking who said any talk of modular building was “exceptionally concerning”.

Approached for comment on Wednesday morning, Reti was emphatic: “There is nothing new here”.

“My comments were in the context of the health sector generally – the previous speaker had first commented on Dunedin and then on the difficulties surrounding hospital builds more broadly.”

He noted that the Dunedin Hospital project faced many challenges, “and they have been canvassed to some degree by a number of Governments”.

Those include cost overruns.

He cited the example of Nelson Hospital, with authorities “looking at a phased option”.

The comments to Parliament come on the same day he met with Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich along with New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation (NZNO) delegate Linda Smillie.

The pair presented a petition – containing 23,000 signatures – concerning opposition to previously proposed cuts to the new hospital.

“We expect the Government to deliver a regional tertiary hospital that is fit for purpose for Dunedin, Otago, Southland and Waitaki. It needs to be a right-sized facility, and our message is simple: Build it once, build it right,” Radich said.

He reiterated that the Minister had previously said there would be no clinical cuts to the project.

Reti said he had a positive discussion with the pair, and listened to their concerns.

“The Dunedin project remains under active consideration, as the Government works to deliver an important health facility that represents value for money.”

Reti told Parliament that the phasing of the hospital’s build would allow more “domestic construction firms” to be involved in the project, which was last officially costed at $1.7billion.

Work on installing the cladding of the 15,000sqm Outpatient building, which is expected to open in 2026, continues.

The design of the Inpatient building, scheduled to open in 2029, was still listed as a “design in progress”.

That building was originally estimated to be around around 73,500 sqm and be completed in the first quarter of 2028.