Coomera Hospital: Bombshell delay for $1.3bn mega project

Construction of a critically needed $1.3bn mega development will not be completed for nearly 20 years in a bombshell blow to the Gold Coast’s northern suburbs. FIND OUT WHY

CONSTRUCTION of the new $1.3bn public hospital at Coomera will not be completed until 2040, 13 years later than expected.

The state government has lodged plans for the hospital with the Gold Coast City Council for the project to allow city leaders to give feedback by November 22.

The hospital had previously been announced with an opening day of 2027, however documents lodged with council say only an “interim stage” would be built by 2028, with the complex not completed until 2040.

Artist impression of the proposed Coomera Hospital and Health Precinct proposed by the State Government

Councillors and the state opposition are outraged by the delay, despite the northern Gold Coast being among the fastest-growing areas in the country.

The Ministerial Infrastructure Designation reveals for the first time that the hospital, first committed to at the 2020 state election, will be bigger than expected but not built until much later.

It shows:

* The main public hospital building will be 13 storeys tall, with two clinical service buildings, a facility support centre and private hospital all to be built.

* The complex will have 2450 carparking spaces.

* Once fully operational, it will have room for up to 800 beds and 4000-4500 staff.

Deputy Mayor Donna Gates Picture Glenn Hampson

Deputy Mayor Donna Gates said the document revealed the project would be delivered in “a minimum of two stages”.

“The interim stage will deliver approximately 50 per cent capacity for an estimated opening year of 2028,” she said.

“The ultimate stage will deliver the balance of the hospital and health precinct for an anticipated opening year of 2040.”

The hospital was announced in October 2020 just weeks out from that year’s state election as part of a $160m election commitment.

A preliminary business case was given $3m in funding in the 2021 state budget, with a six-year construction period stated, business case dependant.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk stands next to an image of the future Coomera Hospital during the 2020 election campaign Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath’s office on Wednesday said the state government was “100 per cent committed to delivering a new Coomera hospital in the second half of 2027”.

On Thursday, Gold Coast-based government minister Meaghan Scanlon insisted the hospital would be completed by 2027.

“Here are the facts: the Palaszczuk Government is investing $1.3bn to build a new 404-bed Coomera Hospital, and it will be completed and operational in 2027,” she said.

“As responsible governments should, we’re also planning for future stages too, to turn the site into a truly integrated hospital and health precinct.

“As part of the Ministerial Infrastructure Designation process seeking planning approval, it is important to set out the entire masterplan including future stages beyond the new $1.3bn hospital.”

Cr Gates said she was concerned about the delays.

“It is such a long time to wait given the population explosion we have already had,” she said.

“I have my fingers crossed that through the budget process they can deliver it much faster because the need (for it) is clear.

“People need access there given it is so fast growing.”

Coomera MP Michael Crandon said he was “absolutely gobsmacked and speechless”.

“I cannot even contemplate this is something which is going to happen because it is not acceptable and a slap in the face for the people of the northern Gold Coast who have been left wanting and in desperate need of infrastructure upgrades.

MP Michael Crandon. Picture Glenn Hampson

“This hospital was supposed to be fully delivered by 2027 but to find out it is not going to be completed until 2040 is just heartbreaking given how short we are on beds.

“I will be here and run again in 2024 to hold them to account for what they have done and people will not forget this.”

The health sector is now the city’s biggest non-tourism industry, generating more than $3bn annually.

While the public hospital is delayed, private developers are moving rapidly to fill the space, with more than $1bn worth of projects on the cards.

Announced earlier this year was the $1bn Foxwell health precinct pitched by joint venture partners Keylin and Kinstone Group.

It will feature a $700m, 400-bed, 60,000sq m, state-of-the-art hospital, which will be built as part of the masterplan.

Northwest Healthcare in July lodged plans with the Gold Coast City Council for a dedicated mental health hospital on Foxwell Rd.

The three-storey Aurora hospital will have 60 beds and is the second stage of the health precinct, which will become one of the key planks of the rapidly growing suburb’s future.

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