Up to nine out of 10 workers wearing hard hats at Dubbo Hospital this year will be from Dubbo and district.
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Hansen Yuncken has won the tender to build a third floor on the new clinical services building at the hospital and refurbish its former maternity unit to accommodate medical records and administration staff.
The company’s senior project manager John Hunt addressed a crowd in the hospital’s boardroom on Tuesday before telling the Daily Liberal that local contractors would make up 70 to 80 per cent of the construction workforce. He also told of out-of-town contractors being required for expertise not available in Dubbo. “But usually what happens then is those contractors employ local people,” Mr Hunt said. “The local content I would expect to be up around 80 to 90 per cent on-site.” About 60 to 80 people will be on-site at the peak of stage three redevelopment, featuring the new floor that will probably become a surgical inpatient unit of 34 beds in single and double rooms.
Mr Hunt’s advice on Tuesday that the roof of the clinical services building had to be removed led to questions on the welfare of labouring mothers and newborns below.The senior project manager said the roof would be peeled back incrementally to allow for the water proofing of a concrete slab underneath it. Maternity unit occupants would stay dry and the company was working with the hospital to “reduce noise as much as possible”, Mr Hunt said. “We’re using small tools everywhere like cordless drills rather than big heavy jackhammers and that sort of thing,” he said.“The framing system has been selected partly because of that process that will reduce noise.” It is being constructed off-site by Custom Steel Frames in Dubbo.
The state government is investing $150 million in stage three and four redevelopment. The two components of stage three redevelopment are expected to be completed by the end of 2017. Stage four will see more old buildings demolished and a four-storey building go up. Planning is also under way for the construction of an integrated cancer centre where the hospital’s former theatres and sterilising department currently sit.