Wakefield hospital owner puts $88m refit out for tender
The owner of Wellington’s largest private hospital, Wakefield Hospital, have invited tenders for its $88 million redevelopment.
Vital Healthcare Property Trust owns healthcare properties in New Zealand and Australia including Wakefield, Bowen Hospital in Wellington, Boulcott Hospital in Lower Hutt, Royston Hospital in Hawke’s Bay and Ormiston Hospital in South Auckland.
The Wakefield redevelopment includes the demolition of most of the buildings and construction of new ones.
Vital Healthcare’s property manager, NorthWest Healthcare Properties Management, said tenders had been invited for the first stage of Wakefield’s redevelopment.
The construction contract was expected to be awarded in early 2019. The capital commitment from Vital for Wakefield was $88m.
‘‘The full development programme will be delivered in stages to be completed in 2022, creating a brand new, high-quality facility with eight operating theatres, 42 beds, a 3000-square-metre medical consulting building and supporting infrastructure,’’ NorthWest said.
‘‘Having regard to seismic risk in the Wellington region, the development will include a base isolated design that will ensure the hospital remains operational following a seismic event.’’
The staged development allows the hospital to continue functioning during demolition and construction.
Wakefield was yellow-stickered after the Christchurch earthquakes, and the Wellington City Council gave its owners until 2022 to fix the seismic issues.
Updating its healthcare developments ahead of its annual meeting in Auckland next week, Vital said resource consent had been received for the development at Royston Hospital which would expand into adjacent properties owned by Vital.
The work included changes to admission and recovery areas in the hospital, expansion of consulting space, and the addition of two new operating theatres, with one to be commissioned immediately. Vital had budgeted $13m.
Vital expected the construction contract to be awarded before the end of the year, and works to be completed in mid-2020.
At Bowen Hospital in Crofton Downs, the completion of the radiation oncology facility was expected before the end of the year. The facility was expected to be operational in the new year.
Vital had acquired an additional 5500sqm of vacant land adjacent to Ormiston Hospital at Flatbush in South Auckland. The capital for development on this land had not yet been confirmed.
Meanwhile, Vital’s manager, NorthWest, is facing a challenge by three big unitholders in the trust against NorthWest’s fees for managing the trust’s properties.
The three investors are ACC, ANZ Investments and Mint Asset Management who combined hold about 10 per cent of the trust’s units.
NorthWest holds almost 25 per cent of the units in Vital.
The three challengers argue NorthWest’s fees are much higher than those of comparable property managers listed on the New Zealand sharemarket.
They have put proposals to the annual meeting seeking unitholders’ support for the lowering of NorthWest’s fees.
NorthWest has said Vital is not bound by the voting on these proposals and changes could only be achieved through commercial dialogue.