The Health Sciences Southland Education and Research Centre will be developed on the ground floor of Southern District Health Board’s education building on the hospital campus, directly below the board’s $2.5 million Clinical Education and Skills Centre, which officially opened in November 2016.
The development covers an area of 443 square metres that will be fitted out into a range of spaces that will function as teaching rooms, student study spaces, video conferencing facilities, research space and consultation rooms.
Construction on the centre is expected to begin next week, and the centre is expected to be operational in February next year.
Dunedin School of Medicine dean Professor Barry Taylor said there were inadequate facilities to support staff and students on placement or based at Southland Hospital.
He was delighted that after years of planning on the part of himself and his predecessor, the university council had given the green light to funding for the facility.
"We have been planning this for several years and I’m delighted that health sciences students and staff based in Southland will have the necessary facilities to support their learning, teaching and research facilities," Prof Taylor said.
The university and DHB had an ongoing partnership across a number of areas including joint clinical staff, research, student placements and shared space.
Southern DHB chief executive Chris Fleming said the university’s investment in the Southland campus illustrated a shared vision of maximising the linkages between the DHB and the university across the region.
The Invercargill project came on top of the University of Otago’s recently announced plans to construct a new state-of-the-art building to grow its Christchurch Health Science campus at a projected cost of $150 million, and then to redevelop the campus’ existing Riccarton Road building on the Christchurch Hospital campus.
