Client: Waikato District Health Board
Location: Waikato Hospital, Pembroke Street, Hamilton
Year of completion: 2015
Value: $1.8M

This complex four-part project involved relocating redundant Hilda Ross building’s facilities into four other existing spaces. These new spaces are called the Medihotel (Level eight of the Elizabeth Rothwell building), Clinical Records (Basement of ED), RMO Facilities (Level four of the Waiora building) and Knowledge Services on the second level of the hospital’s library. All parts of the job were on opposite sides of the campus, so we set up two Lobell Site Managers, and they finished within a month of each other.
Medihotel, the largest of the four contracts was challenging due to the share volume of services. Dealing with numerous sub-contractors both nominated and key trades is common-ground for Lobell, although the new fire rating requirements and minimal access created daily problems to solve.

Works involved a complete upgrade of the existing ward to suit its new purpose, including all finishes, services, doors, and new areas were created for additional patients to stay short term. Hence the name ‘Medihotel’. Constant planning, supervision and quality assurance protocols were crucial for handover on the original programmed completion date.
Clinical Records (Where all hard copies of the clinic’s records are stored) resides in the emergency department’s basement, merely a shell when we started.

This part of the contract included an extensive mechanical upgrade allowing to remove existing air-conditioning ductwork and provide a new fresh air ventilation system, split system reverse cycle VRV heat pump system, and ceiling extract fans. In addition to the mechanical work, several offices, front reception and a lunch area were constructed, along with an extensive rolling shelf system. The smart architectural design gave this dreary basement an excellent feel; we were surprisingly pleased with the finished product.  
RMO Facilities the most extensive demolition project of the four involved the almost complete demolition and modification of part of the existing area. Used by surgeons to re-group between operations, the design was clean and calm using mainly blues and whites. Dimmer lights and patterns designed into the carpet tile layout provides our top doctors with a quiet space to get away between operations.

Knowledge Services indeed required the most hoardings of the four. Floor to ceiling temporary walls were built and insulated so the work could proceed in the live library environment.
Fit-out allowed for three new meeting rooms, a new office and a new archive room. The success of knowledge services we based on the number of complaints received during the build. No complaints were made by any of the staff.