Cuba St site confirmed for Wellington charity hospital
Thursday, 2 April 2026
A Wellington charity hospital could be up and running as early as next year with a location in the city centre now confirmed for the new facility.
Wellington Regional Charity Hospital Trust chair Dr Graham Sharpe said the ground floor of a former medical and social services hub in Cuba St would be stripped and adapted to become a day-surgery facility, after a lease was signed last week.
The next step would be to complete the detailed design work and lodge the consent applications, followed by the fit-out itself, with the first operating theatre potentially opening in the first quarter of next year, Sharpe said.
The base build of the hospital is being funded by Wellington philanthropists Sir Mark Dunajtschik and partner Dame Dorothy Spotswood, for whom the hospital is named. The pair are behind numerous donations to the city, including funding for Wellington’s children’s hospital and a 34-bed mental health facility in the Hutt Valley ‒ both for about $50 million.
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The trust was established five years ago by a group of dedicated Wellingtonians, including medical specialists, with the vision of building a regional charity hospital to meet the needs of the community. Its catchment will include Kāpiti and Wairarapa.
It was expected between 20,000 and 30,000 people would fit the criteria to be treated at the hospital, which would deliver medical day services for people who don’t meet the criteria for admission to the public system and who can’t afford medical insurance and private treatment, but whose conditions often seriously affected their lives, Sharpe, a retired anaesthetist, said.
“We are not going to be doing new hips or new knees, those sort of big orthopaedic [operations],” he said, but the smaller surgeries that could make a huge difference to people’s lives or help them live independently.
“We'd hope to start with some straightforward things like colonoscopies. The ones who are having difficulty getting colonoscopies are often younger people and many are waiting far too long for follow-up in the public system.
While medical specialists would donate their time for free, it was expected the hospital would need to employ nurses and an anaesthetist. When expressions of interest were last sought, 42 surgeons put their hands up to be involved, Sharpe said.
The health centre’s origins stretch back at least six years. Early plans proposed a three-storey facility to house the hospital and other medical tenants, on an Adelaide Rd site formerly occupied by the Inhabit Design store.
However that proposal came unstuck after prolonged lease negotiations saw the previous owner, a commercial property investment company, sell to Waka Kotahi/NZ Transport Agency for $2 million more than they had paid just months prior.
Sharpe said the trust had been working with several philanthropic groups which had been waiting for a concrete building plan before committing funding.
“Along the way, we’ve had some very generous support from professionals, such as architects, planners and builders, many of whom have offered their services free or at a significantly reduced rate because they share our vision.”
Confirmation of the location had now cleared the way for a major public funding push to equip the two operating theatres and get the first patients through the door early next year, he said.
“We're looking to probably start with one theatre, but would hope to have both facilities running mid to late next year.
“It may not make a huge hole in public waiting lists, but that's not really what we exist for. We're existing to help people who otherwise aren't going to get surgical [care].”