Cancer treatment facility opens in Tauranga

Design for life: state-of-the-art cancer treatment
facility opens in Tauranga

Today the doors opened at one of Tauranga’s most technically accomplished buildings.

The Kathleen Kilgour Centre is a complex cancer treatment facility infused with innovative, state-of-the-art medical equipment and a range of holistic and environmentally sustainable design considerations.

The building will, for the first time, provide Bay of Plenty residents with a radiotherapy treatment facility in their own region – saving around 500-600 Bay of Plenty-based patients time-consuming trips over the Kaimai Ranges to Hamilton for treatment.

The $34 million centre, the result of a public-private partnership, is the brainchild of Tauranga urologist Dr. Mark Fraundorfer. It was designed by architects Wingate+Farquhar Architects.

“Buildings for healthcare are the most urgent, most rewarding and most technically challenging design tasks for an architect,” says architect Blair Farquhar.

“Medical environments can often be intimidating and unsettling for the patients. When we were designing this facility we gave great consideration to the technical aspects of the project, but utmost in our minds was the introduction of measures that might improve the comfort of those that use it,” he says.

The Kathleen Kilgour Centre is located near Tauranga Hospital, next to the hospital’s medical oncology unit. The 3,000m2 facility houses three treatment spaces and supporting clinical areas. A state-of-the-art CT scanner and advanced computer software will be used to diagnose and plan treatments. The building’s two Elekta Linear Accelerators are housed in thick concrete and steel-lined bunkers on the ground floor; the necessary facilities for consultation, diagnosis, technical support and patient management are spread between the ground floor and the third floor, with the entire second floor given over to free patient parking, to enhance the ease of visiting the building.

The building has been programmed by Wingate+Farquhar to set a new standard for medical treatment in New Zealand and careful attention has gone into planning the patient’s journey through the facility. The emphasis has been on creating a patient-centered facility that is easy to access and navigate, and psychologically calm, warm and welcoming. The overall achievement is an inspiring, light-filled environment that optimises the patient experience.

Parking, provided within the building on the second floor, aligns with one of the buildings most obvious features – a tower clad in translucent material that allows natural light to flood the space. Distinctive windows in this warm and welcoming space frame wide views of Tauranga and a large green wall provides a welcoming feature element for visitors to consider as they by pass through.

The green wall hints at the buildings environmental credentials. Energy efficiency has been a key consideration for the building’s architects. The distinctive ‘saw tooth’ roof of the clinic has been fitted a large array of solar panels. The roof form also allows natural light deep into the building, reducing the need for artificial lighting and making it a less stressful and more comfortable environment for patients. A rainwater harvesting system was also included in the design to further enhance the efficiency of the building.

“Sunshine will essentially power the Versa HD systems in addition to the cooling and heating systems in the clinic, so we will be very energy efficient,” says Dr Fraundorfer.

“We could have just constructed a building in the normal way, but we wanted to create a facility that not only provided comprehensive radiation therapy services, but also one that was as environmentally sustainable as possible.”

About Wingate+Farquhar

Established by David Wingate & Blair Farquhar in 2004, Wingate+Farquhar is a critically acclaimed and award-winning architecture and interior design studio with offices in Auckland, Tauranga and Northland. The studio has earned a reputation for delivering successful solutions across a range of design disciplines. The team boasts extensive experience and skill in the areas of commercial architecture, interiors, residential, retail, hospitality, healthcare and education, sharing the philosophy that optimum solutions are achieved using a combination of innovative thinking and open dialogue with all those involved in, and affected by the project.

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