New Footscray Hospital

The new Footscray Hospital has delivered:

• more than 500 inpatient beds: including same-day, multi-day, critical care, sub-acute, drug and alcohol, and mental health services
• acute facilities: including an emergency department and mental health and alcohol and other drugs hub
• specialist facilities: including cardiovascular/angiographic, operating theatres, procedural and endoscopy spaces and associated recovery spaces
• clinical support spaces: including medical imaging, pharmacy, central sterile services department, outpatients, mortuary and pathology
• car parking: to cater for patients, visitors, staff and other hospital users
• teaching, training and research spaces.

The new Footscray Hospital aimed to achieve the following benefits:

More patients treated

• with approximately 200 more beds than old Footscray Hospital, the new hospital has capacity to:
  • treat approximately 15,000 more patients treated every year
  • see approximately 20,000 more people in by the emergency department every year.

Reduced wait times

The new hospital aims to reduce wait times across the emergency department, elective surgery and outpatient clinic services.

Better patient outcomes

High quality facilities support and promote Western Health’s innovative practices in improving health outcomes.

With an increase in surgical capacity, the new Footscray Hospital is Western Health’s main surgical site, providing all surgical sub-specialties.

Central location in the inner west

The new Footscray Hospital’s central location, close to the heart of Footscray and next door to Victoria University’s Footscray Park campus, helps position the inner west as a leading health, education and research precinct.

Education and training

The new hospital brings to life education and training partnerships between:

• the Victoria Government
• Western Health (operator of the new Footscray Hospital)
• Victoria University

Victoria University has a dedicated education and research facilities at the hospital. The hospital and university are linked by a footbridge over Ballarat Road. Footscray's new health and education precinct will:

• foster relationships between education and research
• provide opportunities for skills training and apprenticeships
• increase employment pathways for health students.

Jobs

More than 8,600 different people worked on the new Footscray Hospital project. At the peak of construction more than 1,500 workers were on-site daily.

The hospital was built with more than 90 per cent local content, meaning more materials, services and equipment were sourced from local businesses.

The new hospital is expected to create over 250 jobs once fully operatioal and attract new investment through ancillary and specialist health services in the area.

More than 4,500 Western Health staff are being transferred across to the new hospital.

The new Footscray Hospital replaces the existing Footscray Hospital, located at 160 Gordon Street in Footscray. Built in the 1950s, it was a tertiary teaching hospital with 311 inpatient beds.

Melbourne’s west is growing, with the population predicted to grow by 60 per cent in the next 20 years. As the population grows and ages, demand for healthcare services continues to increase.

The new Footscray Hospital will help meet the changing and growing health needs of Melbourne’s west.

Community consultation identified that car parking, the need for green and outdoor spaces and public transport access were important to the community. These issues were carefully considered in the development of this important project.

Learn more in the 'New Footscray Hospital Project Consultation report: the next people’s hospital'.

The views and aspirations of the community were considered in the design of the new Footscray Hospital. This included:

• green spaces
• natural light
• sustainable materials
• good public transport
• a hospital the community is proud of.

The exteriors, green spaces and street entries of the hospital were designed to create a welcoming and healing atmosphere.

The heart of the hospital is the 'central green space'. Featuring a large green open space with services such as childcare, gym, pharmacy, and cafes.

The new Footscray Hospital has achieved a 5 Star Green Star – Design & As Built rating under the Green Building Council of Australia’s certification system.

This rating reflects Australian excellence in sustainable building design and construction.

Key sustainability features include:

• 1500+ solar panels
  covering 60% of the roof surface which can produce 840kW electricity at its peak.
• Rainwater harvesting system
  allowing 90% of rain that falls on the roof to be reused for cooling, irrigation and toilet flushing.
• High-performance façade
  for an airtight hospital with reduced heating and cooling loads, verified through whole building testing.
• Active transport connections
  with more than 500 bicycle parking spaces for staff and visitors, and connectivity to public transport and bike paths.
• Natural light and access to outdoor areas
  to connect patients, staff and visitors to nature.

The hospital is also designed to be net zero carbon ready.

The project was delivered by the Victorian Health Building Authority in partnership with:

• Western Health
• Plenary Health supported by Orygen and Mercy Health
• Victoria University.

The project was delivered as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) under the Partnerships Victoria framework. This involves bringing together a private consortium to design, construct, finance and maintain the new hospital over 25 years.

In March 2021, following an extensive tender process, the Plenary Health consortium was officially awarded the contract to deliver the new Footscray Hospital.

Plenary Health comprises:

• Plenary Group as sponsor and investor
• Multiplex as builder
• Honeywell and Compass as the facilities and maintenance managers
• Sojitz Corporation as investor.

The design team was led by Cox Architecture and Billard Leece Partnership.

The new Footscray Hospital will continue to be a public hospital. The health service providers will continue to be Western Health.

The new Footscray Hospital has been recognised by these awards programs:

• 2023 Australian Design Awards
  Gold: Architecture – Community & Civic
• 2023 Australian Design Awards
  Silver: Digital – Government Services
• National Infrastructure Awards 2022: Infrastructure Partnerships Australia
  Government Partnerships Excellence
• 2022 GOV Design Awards: Driven x Design
  Gold: Architecture – Community & Civic
• 2022 Partnership Awards
  Best Healthcare Project
• 2022 Melbourne Design Awards
  Gold: Digital – Government Services