Hospital based care 08 July 2022

Final module arrives for Northern Hospital’s new mental health facility

The Northern Hospital in Epping is on track to have its 30-bed mental health facility completed later this year, following the arrival of its final modular unit.

The facility is being built using modular construction, with the last module craned into place. Works can now be completed on the facility’s façade and internal fit-outs.

The building is being constructed on top of a two-storey carpark, and involves 237 modules delivered in two stages. The first stage involved 127 modules and started onsite in mid-February this year. The second stage uses 110 modules and was completed in just five weeks.

The 30-bed mental health facility is part of the Victorian Government’s Mental Health Beds Expansion Program. The facility will provide more than 10,900 days of care, enabling 655 more Victorians to access vital mental health services, every year.

Watch the last module being installed for the Mental Health Beds Expansion Program at Northern Hospital in Epping

Accessible video transcript

TEXT: The last module for a 30-bed acute mental health facility at the Northern Hospital in Epping arrived last week.

IMAGES: Footage shows the exterior of the new mental health facility, and a tall crane at the front lifting and swinging a module frame over the front of the building.

TEXT: Modular construction is a process where a building is constructed off-site and then delivered and reconstructed on-site.

IMAGES: A close up of the crane boom as it swings the module frame on the end of the hoist line and gently lets it down on to the top of the facility. Workers gently manoeuvre the frame into place.

TEXT: Now the 238th module has been craned into place, work can start on facility’s façade and internal fit out.

IMAGES: An aerial drone shot of the Northern Hospital Epping, and the new facility, with the boom of a crane rising high against the foreground while the city skyline can be seen in the background. The drone camera captures a close up of the roof of the new mental health facility as it sweeps over the hospital campus.

TEXT: The new facility is part of the Victorian Government’s $492 million Mental Health Beds Expansion Program

IMAGES: Footage shows a close-up of workers adjusting the module frame components.

TEXT: and is on track to be completed in late 2022.

IMAGES: The final shot show the hospital, new mental health facility and surrounds from the air as the drone flies north away from the site.

IMAGES: The closing slide is the Victorian Health Building Authority logo, the web address vhba.vic.gov.au and the Victorian Government logo.

End of transcript.

What is modular construction?

Modular construction involves manufacturing buildings offsite in a factory under controlled conditions. The buildings are made up of 3D components or ‘modules’. These are transported to the site and assembled.

As module manufacturing can take place at the same time as site works, construction timelines can be sped up. Another benefit is reduced operational impacts to hospitals.

About the Mental Health Beds Expansion Program

The Victorian Government is investing $492 million towards the delivery of 144 new acute public mental health beds across Victoria.

The new beds include 120 hospital-based beds and 24 home-based beds. They will be delivered across four Victorian health services to address increased demand on our system.

The sites include:

Northern Hospital in Epping
Sunshine Hospital in St Albans
The Royal Melbourne Hospital in Parkville
McKellar Centre in North Geelong.

Once complete, the new hospital-based beds will provide more than 43,000 days of care. This will enable 2,500 more Victorians to access vital mental health services every year.

The program will deliver over 1,450 jobs during construction. All four facilities are expected to be progressively completed from June 2022 to mid-2024.

Learn more about the Mental Health Beds Expansion Program – Northern Hospital and Mental Health Beds Expansion Program via our dedicated pages.