Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery at St Vincent’s Hospital - Alchemy Construct
Health

Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne

Making way for medical discovery.

The Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD) is Australia’s first collaborative, hospital-based biomedical engineering research centre. They’re leaders in biomedical research and are at the forefront of new treatments tackling epilepsy and osteoarthritis.

Alchemy Construct was brought on board for the demolition of St Vincent’s existing Aikenhead Wing and Daly ‘Infill’ building to make room for the new ACMD facility. We also took the opportunity to refurbish and upgrade the surrounding hospital facilities. These included the existing Childcare Building (93 Victoria Parade), the Turning Point Building (54 Gertrude Street), and the Lower Ground, Ground and Level 3 Floors of the Daly Wing.

Hospitals must be fully operational 24/7, so building in that environment is always an extra challenge. Throughout the decanting, demolition and rebuilding process, Alchemy Construct implemented critical protocols to ensure free movement around the main and adjacent buildings for hospital staff, patients and the general public.

These protocols were especially crucial when refurbishing the busy pharmacy on the ground floor of the Daly Building. We maintained exclusion zones and meticulous site management practices to ensure minimal disruption with a two-stage refurbishment process that adhered to strict pharmaceutical guild specifications.

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RMIT Bundoora & Melbourne City Lecture Theatres

The RMIT Lecture Theatres Upgrade was spread across 4 separate buildings, two in the City and two at the Bundoora campuses, with a total of ten Lecture Theatres completed.

The ‘refresh’ scope primarily entailed upgrades to floor and wall finishes, new tiered seating with associated electrical services for PC and tablet charging, as well as architectural lighting effects. The project also incorporated the installation of new larger windows providing natural lighting to previously tired teaching spaces.

Alchemy Construct had to mobilise to the sites progressively, as access was granted in stages, and immediately sought to resolve any latent conditions after the initial strip out.

The end result was refreshing, particularly for Building 207 at Bundoora’s West Campus, where the teaching space has been transformed to give a feeling of being out in the open surrounded by the stars.

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St Vincent's Hospital Mental Health and AOD Hub

A window into the soul and the sky.

We are proud to have delivered this new facility – a six-bed Mental Health and AOD (Alcohol and Other Drugs) Hub and Behavioural Assessment Room at the St Vincent’s Hospital Fitzroy Campus. The new building allows patients to be fast tracked to specialist, dedicated care – providing them with the right support sooner.⁠

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Melbourne Town Hall

For over 150 years, the Melbourne Town Hall has been one of the city’s cultural and civic epicentres.

We were trusted with the hall’s most recent restoration and refurbishment. It was a rare opportunity to work with a space that’s been setting standards for architectural, design and construction excellence since 1867.

The Melbourne Town Hall’s auditorium and council chambers have been bringing people together for political debates, cultural events and democratic actions since before federation. From hosting dukes in the 19th century to hosting the Beatles in 1964. From housing some of the nation’s first cinema events in the early 1900s to staging punk-fuelled pipe organ experiments for Melbourne Music Week – the hall has a truly special history and energy that warrants careful preservation.

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HERB (Health Education and Research Building)

Health and education combine to bring to life a space for research and discovery.

The partnership between Deakin University and Barwon Health, and a fit-out by our team, has provided healthcare workers in Geelong’s health and hospital precinct brand new spaces for life-changing health education research to occur. ⁠

To enhance Deakin University’s research presence within central Geelong’s health and hospital precinct, Alchemy have fitout the northern wing of the HERB (Health Education and Research Building) level 2 space to accommodate workspaces and create fit-for-purpose clinical trial spaces.

 

The current facility expands over 600m2 and was delivered whilst the remaining HERB building continued to operate during the fitout works.

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City of Boroondara HQ Refurbishment

Upgrading the City of Boroondara’s public face.

The City of Borondara is located in Melbourne’s inner and middle-eastern suburbs, encompassing the suburbs of Hawthorn, Kew, Camberwell and Balwyn. Delivering services to the community, the City of Boroondara’s administration areas were in need of a functional redesign to ensure the space was fit for purpose. The scope of work at the council’s HQ included the demolition and relocation of walls, rearrangement of circulation and access points within the buildings, relocation of the customer service counter, and internal alterations, including bespoke joinery and finishes. (Health Education and Research Building) level 2 space to accommodate workspaces and create fit-for-purpose clinical trial spaces.

 

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Royal Melbourne Hospital COVID Testing Lab

The COVID-19 global pandemic has placed unforeseen challenges to health systems across the world, resulting in virtual shutdown of cities, communities and livelihoods to contain the spread, with desperate measures seeking to control the demand on medical facilities.

Alchemy Construct was asked to design and build a new COVID-19 triage screening unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital as a fast-track project, providing the initial consultation point of visitors and patients for assessment before entry to the hospital. This project was completed in two weeks, and illustrated Alchemy’s ability to resolve the client’s brief, translate that to concise concept plans and quickly produce a prompt response for the stringent infection control necessary at one of Australia’s pre-eminent hospitals.

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Northpark Private Hospital - Stage 1

Transforming healthcare at Northpark Private Hospital - a new era for mental health services.

Located in Bundoora, Northpark Private Hospital is renowned for its comprehensive services, including maternity, emergency, operating theatre, surgical, and mental health wards. Now, as part of an ambitious masterplan, the hospital is taking a bold step forward in becoming a dedicated Mental Health Facility.

Stage 1 of the Northpark Redevelopment introduces 22 additional mental health beds, marking a significant expansion in care capacity. The existing Mental Health Unit will undergo a transformation, taking over the entire southern section of the hospital, including West Ward, the Emergency Department, and the Ambulance Bay. This area will now serve as a specialised Geriatric Unit, complete with group rooms, activity spaces, and lounge and dining areas.

 

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CSSD at Northpark Private Hospital

The Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD) in Northpark Private Hospital has been brought into alignment with the new Australian Sterilisation Standard.

The Alchemy Construct team worked closely with Steriliser Validation Australia (SVA), experts in this area of the healthcare system, to deliver benefits for both design inputs and detailed staging of the site works. This was critical given the very sensitive hospital environment.

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Camberwell Primary School

Camberwell Primary School has been educating students in Melbourne for over 150 years.

Our team were able to provide, both teachers and students, brand new and up-to-date spaces by working transparently with the client and design team seeking value management opportunities in order to achieve the client’s budget.

Our construction experience identified an alternative structural slab and framing solution to deliver both on the cost and with programme benefits. The library building extension involved the construction of a new three-storey building adjacent to the existing multi-purpose school hall, on a very tight site. Alchemy demonstrated appropriate traffic and materials delivery planning to ensure ongoing safety of pedestrians through all stages of the works in this sensitive ‘live’ environment.

The amazing work by the team was highly commended and was subsequently a finalist in the Property Council of Australia Innovation and Excellence Awards.

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