The next step of the Bendigo Health precinct project has started with crews beginning construction on the site of the new Bendigo Rehabilitation Centre.
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The centre, which will see the old Bendigo hospital refurbished and new aspects constructed, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Bendigo Health chair Bob Cameron said to have the facility finished by the end of the year would be fantastic news for central Victoria.
The Bendigo Rehabilitation Centre will be a one-stop shop for allied health services and mental health services and will include a new hydrotherapy pool.
It will welcome staff and patients from the two cream brick buildings at the front of the new hospital.
"We believe it is important people are able to get good services and know where to get them," Mr Cameron said. "So to see a large aggregation on this site, it's a central point to come to, but because of new tremendous facilities with tremendous staff, we hope to have better patient outcomes."
The two cream brick towers - one of which is 64 years old - will be knocked down in early 2023.
"What will occur is this project being finished by the end of year and, in the first half of next year, the towers in front of the hospital will come down," Mr Cameron said. "What we will see is a fully completed Bendigo Health precinct.
"For Bendigo to have a new hospital and have this facility done, we've gone ahead in leaps and bounds compared to the rest of Australia."
Bendigo East MP Jacinta Allan said the rehabilitation facility's construction was part of a 2018 state election promise.
"Over that period of time a lot of hard work has gone in to planning and early works," she said. "It's great to see the Adco team on site for early works with construction of the hydrotherapy pool, which is going to be an important part of services delivered under one roof for central and northern communities."
The construction site currently has about 20 staff employed with up to 100 expected to assist with the rehabilitation centre's construction.
"These construction projects are great in terms of our local community as well," Ms Allan said "We are seeing around Bendigo, there's building works at the GovHub and the Law Courts (while) the TAFE building was completed last year.
"Investment in construction projects ... supports construction jobs and local businesses in our area."
Ms Allan said with Bendigo being a growing city, it was important these infrastructure projects would be able to provide additional services.
"Bendigo is a strongly growing city," she said. "To provide those additional services, you need quality buildings to deliver them from. That was the drive for building the hospital.
"It means more services can be delivered out of Bendigo whether it is law courts where more specialised services can be provided here rather than Melbourne. It is the same for hospital services.
"It's important to keep an eye on the future. These projects are important from a construction point of view but also can provide future expansion of services, which means more jobs."
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