When design vision meets real-world constraints, the results can fall short – but they don’t have to. In PS Health’s new clinic, Cameron & Co and Unita demonstrate how ambitious interiors can materialise, without compromise.

It’s a challenge all too common in the interiors industry: in the liminal space between design and delivery, even the best-planned projects can unravel. Budgets blow out, compromises creep in, and the finished space bears little resemblance to the vision that inspired it, leaving clients short-changed and designers disheartened.

For PS Health’s recently-opened clinic, designers Cameron & Co worked closely with national interior fitout company Unita to prove that there is a better way to deliver projects. Together, they navigated a tight budget, complex detailing and ambitious aspirations, delivering a space that is calming, contemporary and without compromise.

Redefining the patient experience

When business partners Tim and Jo decided to launch their first GP practice, they weren’t interested in building just another medical space. The brief called for a clinic that would be a platform for growth – sophisticated, technology-driven and aesthetically distinct.

“This was never going to be another generic GP practice,” Cameron & Co Architecture founder Stephen Cameron says. “It needed to feel calm, generous and uplifting, while still delivering the precision and functionality a medical practice demands.”

The result is an interior that borrows from high-end retail rather than healthcare clichés. A monochromatic palette, strong horizontals and verticals, and carefully-selected natural materials create an atmosphere of clarity and serenity. Patients are greeted with generous spaces, tactile stone and leather surfaces, and uninterrupted views to the surrounding greenery.

Ensuring budget and buildability

The original cost plan came in at a figure that needed to be re-worked without stripping away design ambition. This is where Unita’s expertise proved pivotal.

“In the early meetings, we discussed at length how we could get to the number we needed to get to, while holding on to the elements we love,” recalls Cameron. “With Unita, that process was easy and straightforward. They came prepared with really solid suggestions that retained the key ideas but saved significant costs.”

Examples included re-thinking bespoke joinery in favour of elegant stainless-steel elements, while ensuring the reception area – the heart of the patient experience – retained its original detailing in full.

The end result is a clinic that looks exactly as it was designed to look, achieved through thoughtful value engineering rather than compromise.

Building partnerships based on trust

For Cameron & Co, trust was the essential element in the partnership with Unita. 

“So often you turn up and the fitout you designed has not been built. Something else has been built instead,” Cameron says. “Unita doesn’t work that way. They collaborate every step of the way to deliver on the original vision.”

The relationship extended beyond design and construction to culture. “With Unita, it’s always a great outcome, not just with their team but with subcontractors too. That comes from the top. Matt as CEO sets that culture and it trickles through the whole business,” Cameron notes.

The results speak for themselves: a single minor defect identified at final inspection, resolved remotely within hours. 

“When we’re working with Unita, we know the effort we put into designing and specifying things will translate into the actual reality onsite,” Cameron concluded. “We get the exact right experiential and atmospheric outcome.”

Known for collaborating with designers to ensure buildability without sacrificing design intent, Unita delivers projects across retail, hospitality, office, gyms and wellness, in all major cities across Australia. Searching for the right collaborator on your project? Enquire on the Unita website.

Photography by Samuel van Dyke, Kosk Photography.