Construction begins with filling, depositing of time capsule

By Mike Houlahan

The new Dunedin Hospital has not even been built, but preparations are already being made for when it is eventually surplus to requirements.

Construction of the outpatients building officially began yesterday with the filling and depositing of a time capsule which a generation of Dunedin residents likely yet to be born will one day open.

Treasures to be found in the future include items special to mana whenua, an 1800s bottle discarded from a previous business on the site, relics and recollections of the Covid-19 pandemic and coverage by the Otago Daily Times from the day in 2018 when the new hospital site was confirmed.

Doing the honours, Health Minister Andrew Little said the relics connected the community to the project, reflected what was going on in the present day and demonstrated people’s aspirations for the project.

"This is a significant day for Dunedin, for the region and for the wider New Zealand health system."

New Dunedin Hospital construction co-ordinator Andrew Holmes shows MPs, officials and media what is about to be built in the central city. PHOTOS: STEPHEN JAQUIERY

At this stage the hospital is budgeted to cost $1.47 billion, and contingencies for the first few years of the project were approved in last month’s Budget.

"We don’t know what the final cost is going to be. There is still a lot of planning to finalise for the hospital, especially for the inpatient building, which will be the second to be built," Mr Little said.

"We have provided for it, and as we get closer to it final detailed planning will cost that out, but cost escalation is a fact of life in construction at the moment."

The Government expected the SDHB now and Health New Zealand in the future to carefully manage the cost of the project and its timeline, but recognised construction was a difficult process, Mr Little said.

The outpatients building is on schedule to open in 2025, while the inpatients building — the larger of the two, to be built on the former Cadbury site — will open in 2028.