‘Medium boom’ tipped thanks to hospital rebuild

Dunedin is about to experience 15 years of ‘‘moderate growth’’ driven by the rebuild of the hospital, the man tasked with advising the Government on the project says.

The project to replace and rebuild the current ageing facility was one of the largest infrastructure projects in New Zealand.

While Dunedin had previously experienced minimal growth, the city needed to prepare for a ‘‘medium boom for quite a long period of time’’, Southern Partnership Group chairman Pete Hodgson told a seminar of people from the construction industry on Friday morning.

About 1050 people were expected to work on the project, and the building may coincide with other Dunedin projects including University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic developments, and the proposed waterfront development.

‘‘We just can’t get the workers into town,’’ Hodgson said.

While there was time to train and give young people employment opportunities during the rebuild, he said there may not be the capacity for a New Zealand firm to build the hospital’s main building.

Hodgson also listed several reasons why the project could not be delayed, with work to start before the next election.

For every month the project was delayed the cost would go up by $2.5 million, or around $100,000 per day

‘‘This is a massive project, and delays are very expensive.’’

However, the biggest reason to make sure the project got underway in a timely fashion was that the current hospital building ‘‘ain’t going to last that long’’.

Hodgson said ‘‘sooner than later’’ some acute services may no longer be able to be delivered because of the state of Dunedin Hospital.

‘‘And that would be very serious . . . so we need to get this thing built.

The new hospital, which is expected to be completed in seven to 10 years, will be partially built on the old Cadbury factory site and will cost up to $1.4 billion.

Health Minister and Dunedin North MP Dr David Clark opened the meeting by saying the rebuild was a ‘‘huge opportunity for our city and our region’’.

The hospital rebuild would be the ‘‘biggest project in town’’, Clark said, and he acknowledged the huge demand the number of workers required would place on the city.

‘‘At the moment there simply aren’t enough workers available in Otago and Southland to fulfil the demand by the hospital and by the other projects.’’

The rebuild presented an opportunity to grow the region’s skilled workforce, only in numbers but also experience, he said.