Woods Bagot has been chosen to lead a world-class team on the design and delivery of a new women’s and children’s hospital in Adelaide.

The architecture firm will be joined by Bates Smart, Jacobs and UK-based BDP for the hospital’s design consortium. The four firms have a shared history of carefully delivered healthcare projects.

“Bringing fresh, critical thinking to the new hospital, the A+ team, will combine the clinical with the creative to imagine and implement new international benchmarks for women and children’s health in Adelaide,” says Woods Bagot director Thomas Masullo.

“We’re here to develop the scheme for a viable, profoundly functional building with people and wellbeing at the heart of its design.”

Co-located with the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the new facility will offer infant, child and maternal services, including birthing suites, neonatal, antenatal and postnatal care, child and adolescent mental health facilities, surgical wards and a paediatric emergency department.

Last year, Bates Smart completed the Gandel Wing at Cabrini Hospital in Melbourne, setting a new benchmark for national patient care. Bates Smart Studio director Mark Healey referenced this precedent of delivering contemporary, patient-focused design.  

“My experience leading the interior design of Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital has given me great insight into how integral these buildings are in the fabric of their communities. There is a level of personal investment in such a project, which makes the design journey richer and more rewarding,” he says.

London-based firm BDP’s portfolio shows unparalleled specialist experience in the design of children’s hospitals, including work for Ormond Street in London and Dublin Children’s Hospital.

“Having spent my entire career in the design and delivery of healthcare facilities I have a genuine passion for delivering great patient and staff focused facilities which benefit the communities they serve and leave behind a legacy of which all involved can be proud to have delivered,” says BDP director Paul Johnson.

Jacobs’ global technology director for healthcare Matthew Holmes says that the design’s responsiveness to staff and community is vital in order to “provide a facility that will be positively life-changing for so many South Australians while being as sustainable as possible to run and operate”.

With the COVID-19 pandemic only highlighting the need for medical facilities with capacity and adaptability, Woods Bagot has announced that this planning phase will include “strong engagement with hospital staff, clinicians, consumers, community members, unions, and key stakeholders”.

The South Australian Government has set aside $500 million for this planning phase, during which the firms will produce a master plan, a concept design study and a final schematic design detailing the cost modelling for the final business case.

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