“Covering two city blocks, the new Dunedin Hospital is one of the biggest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in New Zealand,” Health Minister Andrew Little said. "It is a real pleasure to be in Dunedin to see work on the new hospital under way."
Dunedin’s new $1.47 billion hospital is being built on the site of the old Cadbury chocolate factory. It will have 421 beds, 16 theatres and 30 high-dependency beds.
The first stage of the project, the outpatients building, is on schedule to open in 2025. The inpatient building will open in 2028.
The construction phase is expected to create the equivalent of nearly 1000 fulltime jobs and add $429 million to the local economy.
During the ceremony mana whenua, Ministry of Health, Southern District Health Board and Community Health Council representatives contributed items to a time capsule, created by Farra Engineering Ltd, which will be buried beneath the new hospital.
Some of the contents of the time capsule included an ipu bowl for maukoroa paint to represent the significance and importance of the building, a Toroa (albatross) feather, COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test (RAT), and a drawing of a dream hospital (including a Pokemon Arena) designed by seven-year-old Tama Russell-Sullivan.
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