Paynter Dixon was appointed by St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney to oversee design finalisation and construction of the St Vincent’s Darlinghurst Integrated Campus Redevelopment – Priority Works Package.

The Priority Works comprised 2 separate work areas in the Xavier Building:

• Refurbishment of the existing Heart Lung Clinic clinical and non-clinical areas on Level 4 to provide a new treatment area with 6 treatment chairs, 3 beds and associated support areas; and 11 new consultation rooms, sub-waiting area, refurbished reception, and associated support areas. The works were undertaken over 2 stages to maintain operations of the hospital during the works.
• Construction of the new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Pod on Level 6 comprising 4 standard ICU bedrooms (negative flow capable), 2 class N Isolation Rooms and associated support areas; and a new Plant Room on Level 7 to support the new ICU Pod.

Overcoming challenges

Construction works were undertaken in technically challenging live environments:

• The new ICU pod was constructed directly above a functioning ICU pod on the floor below. Forward planning and agility were key to facilitating noisy works. On occasion, work was halted to prioritise urgent patient care. Remarkably, all services were reticulated through the ceiling space of the existing ICU below.
• The Heart Lung Clinic refurbishment occurred directly above the imaging department where MRI equipment operated seven days a week. Services were also reticulated through the ceiling space above the imaging department. Stakeholder management and daily communication with the operational hospital were integral to minimising disruption.

The length of the hospital runs parallel to Victoria Street with the ICU site located at the hospital’s mid-point. This restricted street access posed a challenge for materials handling.

A tower crane was subsequently erected at this mid-point, on top of the lift shift of the existing building. Extensive planning entailed an intrusive investigation with detailed design and subsequent fabrication of the grillage (structural steel base for the crane).

The resulting crane facilitated a more efficient construction process, avoiding the lag of manual materials handling.

In recent years, our strong relationship with St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney has underpinned the delivery of world-class medical facilities, including the construction of a new hybrid theatre, the refurbishment of an endoscopy suite, and the refurbishment of 7 operating theatres.