‘A promise kept late is a promise kept’: One of NZ’s biggest infrastructure projects finally under way

• After months of looking at an empty site, Dunedin residents will see the construction phase of their new hospital begin on Friday.
• It will be one of the biggest infrastructure projects in NZ history, with a budget of $1.4 billion.
• The two main buildings should be completed by end of 2028.

The site of New Zealand’s biggest hospital project has lain empty for months, but now finally the construction phase has officially begun.

First on the list for the state-of-the-art Dunedin Hospital is an outpatient building, which Health Minister Andrew Little​ says will be operational by the end of 2025.

The outpatient building would make up about 20% of the development, which had a budget of $1.4 billion and would be the country’s “first truly digital hospital”, according to Dunedin MP David Clark​.

Clark was health minister in 2017 when the new hospital was announced. At the time he said construction would begin in 2020.

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When asked if the 2022 ceremony meant he had broken his promise, Little said “a promise kept late is a promise still kept”.

The outpatient building would relieve pressure on the existing Dunedin Hospital a couple of blocks away.

The existing hospital was built over 50 years ago. Its declining condition, issues with asbestos and leaks meant starting from scratch was more economical than a fix.

Little said the Government had a contingency for cost increases, but he didn’t know what that was off the top of his head.

“Cost escalations are a fact of life.”

There was no plan for what would be done with the old hospital building, he said.

The project was expected to create 1000 construction jobs for every year of its 10-year timeline.

The new hospital would feature two main buildings, the first being the outpatient building, then an inpatient building expected to be ready in 2028.

With the health system struggling to hire enough medical professionals, Little said the Government was looking at increasing wages.

In February, one specialist said an offer from an Australian hospital almost tripled his salary and had a sign-on bonus of $300,000.

Little said despite paying less, health professionals would either emigrate to or stay in New Zealand because it was “an attractive place to work”, particularly thanks to our track record with Covid-19.

He said the rebuild and “renewal” of the country’s health system was also a selling point.

Part of Friday’s event in Dunedin included burying a time capsule, which various Government and health officials contributed to. Items inside the capsule ranged from a rapid antigen test to a 150-year-old liquor bottle found on the construction site.

Mana whenua from Kāi Tahu gifted a feather of a toroa (albatross) and an ipu bowl made by a kaumātua, with red clay that traditionally would be turned into paint for buildings of significance.