[COM] New Royal Adelaide Hospital | $2.1b

[AG]

40 floors for a building serving a hospital is too much, considering the world's tallest hospital has 34 floors, and Adelaide still has a lot of space available near ground level where it would be more suitable and practical having several shorter buildings.

[Howie]

Engineering such a monster would be no short feat either.... hot water system has a boiler on every floor in the current rah, separate air con systems to stop bad air from going around the entire building, security from the psych wards, bike storage on every few floors .. that's just few things that are needed in a hospital.

[Ho Really]

I think the artist who drew this up took too much liberty. The site at the mail exchange is much bigger than what you see in that impression, and a hospital on that site would not be 40 storeys! If it were to be built there, there would have to be acquisition of the whole block between West Terrace and Blenheim Street at minimum. Spread out you may end up with anything between 6 and 12 storeys.

Carparking would be below ground (as usual), car and pedestrian access from four sides and a possible tram line down Grote Street with a connection to the North-South rail at Mile End/Keswick. Also good access to the Airport for real emergencies.

Cheers

[Howie]

Still can't see how that's possible... current site has various buildings between 6-10-15 levels, and currently they're at capacity. Moving to a smaller site won't give you 6-12 storey buildings.

Here's a size comparison of the site... (rah without reid building and without the breast clinic mind you).

[Shuz]

They should acquire the whole city block between West Tce and Morphett St. Surely that's enough room for a hospital?

[Will]

They should acquire the whole city block between West Tce and Morphett St. Surely that's enough room for a hospital?

Gouger street is better suited to cafes, restaurants and student apartments. It is not a good site for a hospital.

[Cruise]

They should acquire the whole city block between West Tce and Morphett St. Surely that's enough room for a hospital?

Gouger street is better suited to cafes, restaurants and student apartments. It is not a good site for a hospital.

Its still a better site than the railyards.

[AtD]

They should acquire the whole city block between West Tce and Morphett St. Surely that's enough room for a hospital?

Yes, lets just throw money out the window. Although, it does play well into the North Adelaide resident's plans to acquire the square mile and turn it into a giant retirement village.

[Shuz]

I'm not in favour of the Gouger/Grote St idea, but if they did change plans, it would be more logical to acquire the city block than erect a '40 floor Marj' - what a load of crock by the way, I saw the render and was just dismally appalled at the Advertisers poor attempt to piece together a concept for the hospital using 'cut, copy & paste' methods. Journalism at its worst - typical coming from the trash that sadly is SA's own.

[Bulldozer]

Still can't see how that's possible... current site has various buildings between 6-10-15 levels, and currently they're at capacity. Moving to a smaller site won't give you 6-12 storey buildings.

Here's a size comparison of the site... (rah without reid building and without the breast clinic mind you).

Extend the highlighted area to West Tce and on the other end to the next alleyway and it's still a very large chunk of land. Plus you also have to consider the existing site has a lot of dead space between the buildings.

It's definitely do-able, but I think a more pertinent question is what is going to happen in twenty years or so when there's 50,000 people living in the square mile? This I think demonstrates the folly of the Government's drive to centralise major health care into the city. (Which I understand is the opposite of what the "generational health review" recommended and a lot of doctors are against.) The other metropolitan hospitals will need to have the facilities and resources that this new hospital will have as well.

[Ho Really]

Still can't see how that's possible... current site has various buildings between 6-10-15 levels, and currently they're at capacity. Moving to a smaller site won't give you 6-12 storey buildings.

Here's a size comparison of the site... (rah without reid building and without the breast clinic mind you).

Howie, thanks for posting the images. It makes a whole lot of a difference when you can see the sites from the air instead of looking them up on a street directory like I did this morning. My measurements and bearings were a little off. In an older post somewhere on SA I mentioned the mail exchange site would be OK if it were extended to the east with acquisition of land. I made the mistake of thinking those small businesses that had to be acquired were on the western side of Blenheim Street, on the mail exchange block. The block that I should have included reached Marlborough Street, further to the east where there has to be acquisition of small businesses and other property. Also you need to include the West Terrace section (Freedom Furniture, Shell petrol station, etc.) which is not marked in your aerials. My building heights (in storeys) were only guesses. Of course if you want to duplicate the RAH and its perimeter then a hospital on the mail exchange site would have to be in all probability 12 storeys all the way round. As Bulldozer mentioned (and as I was going to say this arvo when my computer gave up) the RAH has a lot of gaps between buildings, including roads and carparks. There may also be some buildings on that site that won't need to be duplicated at West Terrace, I'm not sure. The new "Marj" is not tall but spread out. If you know the total volume of those buildings can you transplant that to the West Terrace site and see what we get?

Cheers

[Ho Really]

Gouger street is better suited to cafes, restaurants and student apartments. It is not a good site for a hospital.

There is no reason why Gouger Street has to be a cafe and restaurant strip all the way to West Terrace. Plus didn't someone here say that having a cafe and restaurant precinct close by to a hospital would be good for those visiting? As for student apartments they can be built anywhere in city's west.

Cheers

[Ho Really]

They should acquire the whole city block between West Tce and Morphett St. Surely that's enough room for a hospital?

Gouger street is better suited to cafes, restaurants and student apartments. It is not a good site for a hospital.

Its still a better site than the railyards.

I agree. The railyards has some issues:

1. Lacks road access from the north.
2. Entrance only from North Terrace.
3. Proximity to a fault line.
4. Proximity to approaches to Adelaide Airport.
5. Lower lying land.
6. Contaminated land.

Any more? Let's debate these thoroughly.

Cheers

[Cruise]

1. Lacks road access from the north.
2. Entrance only from North Terrace.
3. Proximity to a fault line.
4. Proximity to approaches to Adelaide Airport.
5. Lower lying land.
6. Contaminated land.

I agree thoroughly

[AtD]

Gouger street is better suited to cafes, restaurants and student apartments. It is not a good site for a hospital.

There is no reason why Gouger Street has to be a cafe and restaurant strip all the way to West Terrace. Plus didn't someone here say that having a cafe and restaurant precinct close by to a hospital would be good for those visiting? As for student apartments they can be built anywhere in city's west.

Cheers

Restaurant strip like, uh, Rundle Street perhaps?