Auckland City Hospital Redevelopment, Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland is New Zealand’s largest and fastest-growing city. The pressure on public health services increases each year. To meet demand, Auckland District Health Board authorised development of new and existing facilities on its Grafton and Greenlane sites. Concurrently run, the building projects included a new $220m 80,000m² hospital; a new $15m acute mental health unit; a $15m upgrade to Starship Children’s Hospital; a $20m upgrade of support buildings; a $11m multi-storey car park; and a $1.5m fit out of the student education centre.

Xigo employees led the project management team to supply project management, engineer to the contract, risk management, programming, equipment design coordination and migration planning.

• Detailed early planning was required to mitigate the impact of construction on hospital operation and ensure ‘business as usual’ for existing hospital facilities
• Development of detailed planning and procurement strategies to maximise value for money for our client
• Migration of acute services from a number of facilities into one and maintaining service continuity throughout
• Construction took place during a period of high activity in the industry, placing pressure on available resources
• Each department within the hospital was essentially a project of its own
• Time constraints dictated that internal fit out progressed on all levels at the same time
• Equipment selection was purposefully delayed, to ensure the hospital would benefit from the latest technology. This approach necessitated design alterations towards the end of the project
• Strict control of procurement to provide client with best overall financial outcome

We assembled a highly-experienced, capable team for the project; key people were co-located on the client’s site for four years. Our approach centred on coordination between the many interested parties; regular, clear communications; rigorous, detailed planning; strong change management; and robust project governance. Constructive relationships developed between the health board’s team and ours – the two teams essentially became one.

An exceptional result was achieved for each component of the total project. The new Auckland City Hospital, which has been praised by staff and the community for its highly-efficient design, was awarded the 2004 Property Council NZ Special Purposes Building Award (Merit).