Main building for Cadbury site

AN up to ninestorey building will be constructed on the former Cadbury site, as plans for the $1.4 billion Dunedin hospital build are confirmed.

The historic facades of the Cadbury building appear all but certain to be demolished, although the recently redeveloped former dairy building on Castle St appears to have dodged the demolition ball.

Major consultants for the project are soon to be hired, and Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said the council would do whatever it could to get resource consent for the buildings across the line.

Southern Partnership Group (SPG) chairman Pete Hodgson announced yesterday the main inpatient block of the new hospital would be built on the former Cadbury site.

‘‘It is likely to be an eight or ninestorey structure which will be accessed primarily off Cumberland St.

‘‘It will face the smaller sixstorey outpatient and day surgery building across St Andrew St, and will probably be joined to it by way of a multilevel bridge.’’

He expected the bridge would have up to three levels, allowing separation between the public, patients and hospital staff and equipment going between the buildings.

There had been concerns about the state of the soil underneath the site, but Mr Hodgson said the latest geotechnical data showed the build was feasible.

‘‘It is going to be a challenging building to construct, because it will be large, complex, and strong.

‘‘It must not only remain standing after a large earthquake but also be fully functional.’’

Last month, Minister of Health David Clark announced the outpatient and day surgery building would be accelerated, and scheduled for completion in two stages in November 2023 and November 2024.

The main inpatient block was scheduled for completion in November 2028.

Mr Hodgson said there was room for the dairy factory in the plans, but not the Cumberland St facades.

‘‘In due course, we anticipate we will apply for consent to demolish the remainder of the Cadbury factory, along with existing buildings on the block to the north.’’

Mr Hodgson said he used the word ‘‘anticipate’’, as a final decision would be made by architects when the final design was done.

However, every bit of advice he had been given was not to build an earthquakeproof hospital inside an existing facade.

Demolition was not 100% certain, but ‘‘it’s 99 point something’’.

Mr Hodgson said it was expected there would be a large basement level car park, although details of how many parks was yet to be decided, as were details of exactly where the helicopter pad would go and what the flight path would be.

He said he expected the Ministry of Health would go to the market for main consultants for the project in the next few days.

In terms of the consent process, he said it would be done ‘‘pretty methodically’’.

Key parties involved had been contacted and an archaeologist had been appointed.

Asked about the possibility of delays through public consultation and appeals, Mr Cull said the council had made it clear early on ‘‘we would do whatever we could within our powers to facilitate the resource consent’’.

‘‘There has been discussion, we’re very well aware of it, and we’ll be doing whatever we can to facilitate whatever is needed to get it across the line quickly.’’

Mr Hodgson said the northern end of the site was where University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic activities would interact with the new hospital at a learning centre.

The ‘‘future spaces’’ on the plan allowed for both expansion and relocation.

He said changes might be made to the master site plan as the hospital design developed.

‘‘There are five design stages and we have just completed the first.

‘‘While the basic layout is now settled, lots of detail is yet to emerge,’’ Mr Hodgson said.

The Otago Daily Times understands there has been little movement in land sales for the site over Christmas.

Responding to an ODT request for the master site plan in full, Mr Hodgson said that would be discussed at the next SPG meeting on Tuesday.

His advice was it was not usual to release such plans, but he was more inclined to make such documents public.

Southern District Health Board chief executive Chris Fleming said the master site plan was an important milestone.

A public meeting to update the community on the project and answer questions would be held next month.