Earlier this week, the $1.5 billion new Footscray Hospital opened in Melbourne, with Honeywell and Compass Group providing facilities management and support services.
The hospital has 500-plus beds – around 200 more than the facility it replaces – and can treat an additional 15,000 patients annually.
Also, its new emergency department can now support an additional 20,000 patients every year.
The hospital was delivered by the Plenary Group-led Plenary Health consortium in partnership with the Victorian Government and its operator Western Health.
“Plenary is proud to celebrate the opening of the new Footscray Hospital and to have partnered with the Victorian Government and Western Health to deliver Victoria’s largest single infrastructure project,” Plenary group CEO Paul Crowe says.
“This project shows the strength of the public–private partnership model in generating an innovative community hospital that generates economic, social and health benefits that extend beyond the hospital itself.”
As the facility services provider, Honeywell is providing hard facilities management and the installation of building management products.
Honeywell Forge will enable the new hospital to conduct condition-based maintenance to reduce unplanned reactive work and lower energy costs, using a machine learning solution that continuously analyses the building’s energy consumption patterns and automatically adjusts to optimal energy-saving settings without compromising occupant comfort.
Honeywell will also protect the OT environment with a suite of cybersecurity solutions to proactively monitor and maintain its systems, including cybersecurity monitoring and remote management.
The hospital is conceived as a campus rather than a singular structure, with five interconnected buildings arranged around a central village green. A footbridge directly connects Victoria University (VU) to the VU Research and Teaching building at the new Footscray Hospital.
The hospital features more than 20,000 square metres of external spaces, courtyards, terraces, winter gardens and green roofs.
The project incorporates an 840-kilowatt rooftop solar array and targets a minimum five-star Green Star rating, with aspirations for six-star certification.
Operational strategies for the facility focus on reducing energy use, improving indoor environmental quality and supporting future adaptability. In a national first, the hospital is also seeking WELL Gold certification.
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Photo credit: Peter Bennetts
