Coffey Projects delivers Innovative Mental Health Services in Victoria

Residents in the south-east of Melbourne will now have access to better mental health services following Coffey Project’s successful management and delivery of the first stage of a $57 million redevelopment and expansion of Dandenong Hospital’s Mental Health Services.

Funded by the State Government and operated and maintained by Southern Health, the project is one of the largest mental health developments in the state in recent years. This first stage of the 120 bed, 8,500m² redevelopment includes completion of the Adult Acute unit (50 beds).

Featuring individual bedrooms, large communal spaces and an abundance of natural light throughout with internal courtyards, the innovative design of this new mental health facility signals a new model in the delivery of mental health services.

Coffey Projects Project Director, Roger McLeod explained, “The redevelopment deliberately represents a move away from traditional institutionalised accommodation, towards a more residential model, aligning the facility with current views on the treatment of mental illness.

“It is important for patients that the environment ensures dignity and respect for privacy. Internal courtyard spaces and gardens integrated into the design allow patients to move seamlessly inside and out. The unit itself consists of separate single storey pavilions, with single loaded corridors. Special care has been taken in the selection of building materials, with timber-clad designs used to provide a warm, tactile, residential environment.”

The project has successfully balanced this non-institutionalised look and feel while providing a safe and secure environment for patients and staff. The selection of robust, durable materials that are easy to maintain was also a key objective. Women’s privacy and safety has also been a focus, with the staff able to implement women-only areas by way of the introduction of secure doors, and increased security with singular patient and staff only access to the individual bedrooms.

The redevelopment has taken place on an existing, operating acute hospital site, so one of the challenges has been to ensure the adjacent current mental health operations were able to continue throughout the construction. According to Roger, “We needed to minimise operational disruption to all stakeholders, particularly sensitive patient groups. To achieve this, a two stage delivery model was evaluated as being the optimal solution. This proved to be cost effective, as it reduced construction time, enabled greater construction efficiency and optimal program duration.

“Being a large project with multiple stakeholders we had some very specific challenges to manage. We were able to successfully do so through the development of close working relationships with our clients and the consultant team, understanding the operational needs of our client, ensuring quality design responses, understanding and managing project risks, opportunities and time implications and, finally, a balanced approach to the assessment of the competing project objectives” Roger said.

The second and final stage of the Dandenong Mental Health Facility redevelopment is scheduled for completion late in 2012, and will add an Aged Acute unit, Secure Extended Care Unit (SECU) and an Administration, Research and Teaching facility to the development.