St Vincent’s Hospital Brisbane to be redeveloped over 20 years
A landmark hospital which has looked after the city for nearly 70 years will progressively give way to five new mixed-use towers in what’s billed as an ‘integrated wellness community’.
Southeast
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A historic inner-city Brisbane private hospital will be redeveloped under a six-stage, 20-year plan which will include five mixed-use towers of up to 18-storeys in what is being billed as an “integrated wellness community”.
Planners Gaskell Planning Consultants submitted the development application on Tuesday seeking preliminary approval on behalf of St Vincent Healthcare Limited, the owner of St Vincent’s Hospital at Main St, Kangaroo Point.
“The St Vincent’s facilities currently include private hospital services, aged care and a long andunprecedented history of palliative care at the Mt Olivet building,” the planners say.
To maintain these services to the wider Brisbane and Queensland community, large reinvestment in health and aged care facilities will be needed.
“As a result, the development opportunities envisaged will enable St Vincent’s to reinvest in on going care with updated facilities to ensure ongoing care for many more decades.”
Under the plans, the new “integrated wellness community” would be split into a “Residential Precinct” and a “Health, Aged Care and Education Precinct”.
The residential precinct would consist of three towers, with heights of 14 storeys, 15 storeys and 18 storeys, facing the Brisbane River.
The tallest tower would house “retirement living, residential aged care or similar”, according to the plans.
The residential precinct would contain a public accessway to the river walk.
Meanwhile, the health and education precinct, facing Main St, would consist of a “residential aged care and healthcare tower with health, wellness, administrative and allied tenancies in lower levels” and a shorter “health, wellness and education building” with “flexibility... (for) additional mixed residential uses”.
Several of the new buildings would be interconnected via landscaped podiums.
A key objective of the redevelopment, the application says, is to “underpin healthcare offerings with a research and education hub which would connect with nearby universities and other centres with a view to forming part of an innovation system geared at supporting our ageing population and promoting longevity”.
The existing hospital buildings on-site would be progressively demolished.
St Vincent’s Care Services chief executive Lincoln Hopper stressed that any change would be gradual and the application presents a “vision” rather than a nuts-and-bolts, hammered-down plan.
“It’s what a possible new health and aged care campus, with a range of accommodation types designed to cater for our ageing population, might look like two decades from now,” he said.
“The changes we’re considering at Kangaroo Point will take place over decades.
“We don’t expect construction to begin for years to come.
“We’re talking about gradual change, delivered over decades.
“And when construction begins, it will take place in a staged way.
“That means, as new facilities are created they will allow for the relocation of current services ensuring there is no need to close.
“The main challenge we have on the site is that peoples’ expectations around their health and aged care are changing.
“People want to receive care and recuperate in their homes as much as possible.
“But our buildings on the site – St Vincent’s Private Hospital Brisbane and St Vincent’s Care Services Kangaroo Point – were constructed in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
“They’re not up to the task of meeting the community’s future health and aged care needs.
“To meet those expectations, our services need to change.
“And they need complete renewal, not just refurbishment.”
Gabba Ward Councillor Jonathan Sri said he was grateful for the opportunity to tour the site as part of St Vincent’s six-week community consultation round but had several concerns over the plan.
“I’m particularly worried that a larger hospital coupled with a lot of residential apartments could contribute to more severe traffic congestion issues along Main St,” he said.
“The site is zoned for ‘Community Facilities – Major Health Care’ but the hospital is applying to set aside half the site to build residential towers up to 15 storeys [sic], which isn’t strictly compliant with the Kangaroo Point Peninsula Neighbourhood Plan.
“If this private hospital wants a lot more residential development on their site, they should be giving something back to the community, such as a large area of public parkland and perhaps some public housing.
“There are important differences between genuine aged care that’s related to a hospital, and high-cost retirement living, but this preliminary application doesn’t clearly distinguish between the two.”
Do you know more about this story? Contact alex.treacy@news.com.au
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