The new Dunedin Hospital is no longer being ranked as an extreme risk is being hailed as a turning point for a project that had once “completely lost its way”. After years of the project being ranked by Treasury as among the government’s most “high risk” projects, it has been downgraded in the latest assessment. Treasury’s Quarterly Investment Report for October-December 2025, released earlier this month, includes the nearly $2 billion project within the list of “high profile-high risk” investments. However, its overall risk has dropped from “red”, where it has sat since the beginning of assessments, to “amber”. ©Allied MediaAs the second of 3 tower cranes is constructed for the Dunedin hospitals in-patient building, government concern over the build has reduced. Photo: Stephen Jaquiery The project was being managed within its respective agencies and did not require "any further action from Cabinet at this stage”, Treasury said. Health Minister Simeon Brown was pleased. "We said we would deliver the New Dunedin Hospital project and that’s exactly what we’re doing.” Former health minister Pete Hodgson, who oversaw the early stages of the project, was not surprised. “As a project progresses there's fewer and fewer unknowns to deal with and so it will simply be the stage of construction that has been reached. “Another way of putting that is that there are fewer decisions to be taken and therefore there's less risk of central torpor or central uncertainty. “One of the features of the whole project for eight years now has been that the centre's never been able to make up its mind and now there are less things for it to make up its mind about.” © Allied MediaNew Dunedin Hospital build site on Friday. Photo: Gregor Richardson Mr Hodgson said last year’s re-appointment of Tony Lloyd and Evan Davies as project leaders would have also been a factor. “It had completely lost its way . . . and so when they came back that meant that there was going to be two people who had got things done and who took decisions instead of asking questions.” "The project has long since reached a point where anything other than minor redesign would make any sense. "So it's now a much more certain project in many ways.” Treasury said the new approved delivery date for the inpatient building was February 2031, “which will reset the delays reported to zero”, while the outpatient building was due in October this year. In recent times, there have been a number of milestones reached at the inpatient building site including the arrival of the cranes and the structural steel this month. © Allied MediaWorkers get ready for a concrete pour at the New Dunedin Hospital build site on Friday. Photo: Gregor Richardson In October, the next major series of concrete pours will be for the inpatient building floor slabs, as construction progresses up through the structure. These floor slab pours will follow installation of the structural steel frame, the first elements of which are already visible on site. Executive dean of Bond Business School Prof Robin Gauld, who was also a lecturer for Dunedin School of Medicine, said the fact it was a “red” risk for so long spoke to “cross-party political failure”. OTAGO IMAGES/OTAGO DAILY TIMESWhile work starts taking place on a large scale, the little stuff gets attended too. Sparks fly as a worker on the New Dunedin Hospital site makes adjustments to a workpiece on Friday morning. Photo: Gregor Richardson This was particularly the case during the government’s delay of the project in 2024. “If we'd had our politicians working collaboratively on such a project which sits across election cycles, we would never have had a red flag. “So I actually think it's a sign of political failure that there was a red flag on there.” The lessons learnt from the project should be “getting all your certainties right from the start”. “It's very important with these very large projects to have a cohesive approach right from the outset. "And that was never the case with this project.” Prof Gauld said Dunedin deserved a quality new hospital and the recent signs of building was “hugely encouraging”. “But I can't imagine how difficult it has been for the people involved in trying to sort of wrestle with the changes going on at the centre affecting the project.”
