TWO buildings at Bendigo Health’s Anne Caudle Centre site do not – and cannot – meet years-old fire safety standards.
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The two cream brick towers – the east wing, which was built in 1958, and the north wing, built in 1972 – are constructed in a way that makes it impossible for them to fully comply with standards introduced in 2012.
The buildings house dental and rehabilitation services, including a 60-bed ward, and administrative, financial and IT departments.
Bendigo Health chief executive John Mulder says the buildings are not dangerous and their continued use is not compromising safety.
“I wouldn’t be running services out of the building if I thought patients or staff were at risk of being harmed,” he said.
Bendigo Health has known the two buildings have been unable to meet standards since 2012, Mr Mulder said. But the organisation did a “range of things … at that particular time to ensure they were as safe as possible”.
“But one of the things where we couldn’t address the issues was the general nature and structure of the building. For example, the materials that each of the floors was built with.
“Whereas the fire rating was adequate years before, each year the standard goes up and the rating of those floors didn’t meet the new standards in 2012.
“We’re comforted by the fact the buildings are fully sprinklered. They have functioning smoke and fire detection systems, they have fire hydrants and extinguishers... and smoke doors.”
Bendigo Health wants to relocate services to the current hospital site once the new hospital opens in January. But closing the buildings before then would have far-reaching consequences, Mr Mulder said.
“We’d shut down our dental services, we’d shut down our sub-acute services – and that would pretty much cripple our acute services and impact on elective surgery and on our beds.”
‘Sensible’ approach
Bendigo Health has taken a pragmatic approach in keeping open the two buildings at its Anne Caudle site that can’t fully comply with fire safety regulations, Mr Mulder says.
“Considering all of the available options, the most sensible, most practical and safest thing to do was to make the buildings as safe as possible and move at the earliest opportunity to more modern accommodation,” he said.
Mr Mulder hopes a relocation can happen soon and that the two buildings at the Anne Caudle site can be demolished. Bendigo Health, in fact, already has plans to transform the land on which the buildings stand into a “beautiful, green” forecourt, he said.
But Bendigo Health will have to wait at least until the new Bendigo hospital opens in January next year for a solution. And even then, plans and funding are yet to be locked in.
“It’s been on the agenda and we’ve been discussing funding options,” he said. “We’re speaking with the state government and also with the Commonwealth.
“Those buildings (in the current hospital) will be available from early next year and allow the prospect of refurbishment and a relocation of those services.”
The two buildings in question at Anne Caudle, constructed in 1958 and 1972, would make way for “a beautiful green, landscaped forecourt” that would complement the heritage-listed buildings at the site”, Mr Mulder said.
“This is totally unrelated to the historic facade. The towers are a little bit in the way, so it certainly suits our long-term plans to have them removed. What we will do is in time, open up a fantastic site that will overlook Rosalind Park and be one of Bendigo’s greatest assets. It will be an amazing precinct.”