25 September 2014

It’s all happening at Christchurch Hospital – from next week

With the appointment of Schick Contracting and Cartage to carry out site preparation work within the Christchurch hospital grounds, the public can expect to see some changes around Christchurch Hospital over the coming weeks.

The site preparation work marks the first tangible sign of development ahead of construction of the new Acute Services building on the Christchurch Hospital campus. The government has committed over $650m to develop new facilities at both Christchurch and Burwood Hospitals. This is the largest investment in public health facilities in New Zealand.

Next week

Work starts on Monday 29 September on a carefully staged reorganisation of the traffic flows at the front of Christchurch Hospital.

• The current one way roading system around the hospital will be converted to accommodate two way traffic once the road has been widened.

• Additional mobility car parks and cycle parks will be created at the front of the hospital.

This work will be done in small sections, to minimise disruption to normal traffic flows. This work is expected to take until the end of October. It’s important to note that the current car park at the rear of the site will still be available to patients and visitors during this time. These initial site works will temporarily limit access to a small number of car parks at the front of the hospital.

There will be trucks and heavy machinery within the hospital grounds, so pedestrians and cyclists are asked to take extra care.

Other work to be carried out over the next month includes moving underground pipes and cables, site clearing including some tree felling, and erecting fences around the construction site.

From Tuesday 28 October

From Tuesday 28 October there will be 150 fewer car parks on the Christchurch Hospital site.

Canterbury DHB’s new Park & Ride shuttle service will start on Tuesday 28 October.

It will operate from 7am – 8:30pm seven days a week.

People should drive to the car park on the corner of St Asaph & Antigua Streets (the site of the former brewery – and site of the planned Metro Sports Facility). Parking costs $2 per hour or $5 per day. They can then catch a free shuttle ride to Christchurch Hospital. The pick-up point will be clearly marked by a shipping container – which will provide shelter for shuttle riders.

Shuttle buses will leave every 10 -15 minutes, stopping at Hagley Outpatients and the main entrance to Christchurch Hospital.

Patients and visitors can then catch a free shuttle ride back to their car when they’re ready. Pick up will be from shuttle stops near the main hospital entrance and Hagley Outpatients.

A designated drop-off zone will be in use from Tuesday 28 October

A dedicated drop off zone to be located outside the main entrance will be up and running on Tuesday 28 October.

If you’re a patient, a family member or friend can drop you off close to the main entrance. Volunteers will be on hand during the day to assist people who are dropped off. Your driver can then make use of the shuttle service, or come back later to collect you.

More mobility parking will be available close to the main entrance in late October along with additional bike rack facilities.

CDHB chief executive, David Meates says that while the DHB is excited about having new state of the art hospital facilities, we realise that the next few years will be challenging.

“Construction has to take place alongside the day-to-day operation of a busy tertiary hospital. We have a relatively small site to accommodate 4000+ people a day coming on to the site, along with the contractors and their machinery,” he says.

“We ask that able-bodied visitors to the hospital and our own staff do their bit by choosing alternative forms of transport wherever possible,” he said. “If you are fit and able, consider using one of the many buses that stop right outside the hospital entrance. More staff could consider biking or car-pooling to work,” Mr Meates said.

More information about parking and other transport options can be found on the CDHB website – cdhb.health.nz/parking.

ENDS

Background information on the new Acute Services Building

Scheduled to open in 2018, the Acute Services building will comprise a three storey podium housing the majority of Christchurch Hospital’s acute facilities and clinical support areas. Above the podium will be inpatient ward blocks over six upper floors. Two ward blocks will be built as part of this project, providing approximately 400 beds initially. Space on the podium will be left for a third block to provide additional ward capacity at some stage in the future.

The plant such as air conditioning, oxygen and gases will be located on Level 2. Below this on Level 1 are the operating theatres and intensive care unit, with the emergency department, radiology and acute medical assessment unit on the Ground Floor. The two six-level towers will house inpatient floors as well as inpatient units for paediatric, a bone marrow treatment unit and a Child Haematology Oncology Unit (CHOC). It’s estimate that this will create a total of 62,000m2 of new hospital space.

The building will be built to Importance Level 4 standards (180% of code) and will be base isolated. It will also feature purpose-designed spaces for children and a helipad.

An infographic highlighting the scale of the project is attached
InfographicA4portrait.pdf

© Scoop Media