With a building footprint of 10,450m2, the new Christchurch Hospital Hagley (Hagley) will be the South Island’s largest hospital building. It has been built to IL4 (Importance Level 4) standards, or 180% of code – the highest level for a building designated to an essential facility that needs to be up and running after a disaster. The building is fitted with 129 base-isolators.

Other features include:

• 62,000 m2 total area
• 13 lifts in the building
• Built with steel framing (6,000 tonnes of structural steel and over 100,000 bolts) with a curtain wall made up of 1,300 panels.
• Lots of natural light.
• Significant seismic protection in the building – apart from the base isolators there is lots of seismic bracing, gaps in the stairs to allow movement and special joints in the pipes that run services such as hot water, steam and air conditioning.
• Tower A (Level 3 – 9) – General Surgery wards, Vascular, Stroke, Children’s medical, Children’s Haematology and Oncology Centre (CHOC) and the helipad.
• Tower B (Level 3 – 8) – Neurology and Neuro Surgery, Children’s Surgery, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit and Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer support, Oncology, Orthopedics and General Surgery.
• Level 2 – Sterile Services and administration areas
• Level 1 – Intensive Care, Theatres and Radiology
• Ground Floor – Emergency Department, Medical Assessment, Acute Care and Radiology
• The Lower Ground Floor has meeting rooms, shared work spaces and changing rooms for staff

Project consultants

The consultants involved in the project are:

• Architects - Katoa Health Design including Chow Hill, Warren and Mahoney and Thinc Health
• Quantity Surveyors – Rider Levett Bucknan
• Project Programmers – Woods Harris Consulting
• Structural, Geotech and Civil Engineers – Holmes Consulting
• Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, 
• Communications, Security, MTAV services - Beca
• Fire Engineering and Fire Protection Design – Aurecon 

Which services will be going into Hagley?

Hagley will be the home for many of Christchurch Hospital’s Acute Services – things like the Emergency Department, some radiology services, and Medical Assessment for people who are acutely unwell – and the towers will house many of our acute wards: general surgery, orthopaedics, oncology, Children’s Health.

Will wards/departments keep the same names they have now?

All ward/department names will change in the new building, aligning Christchurch Hospital with international best practice. The new ward/department names will clearly identify where the ward/department can be found in the new building – for example, Children’s A7 is the Children’s ward in Tower A, Level 7. If you’re visiting a patient in one of the wards/ departments that are moving, you’ll know in plenty of time exactly where they’re going and what the new ward/ department will be called.

How many patients will be moved?

Over a period of about two weeks, as many as 350 patients will be moved to Hagley, depending on how many are in each ward/department on the day of the scheduled move. As you can imagine, the planning for this move has been extensive, and there is a very tight schedule to make sure everyone is moved safely and as quickly as possible.

If I have a friend of family member in the ward on the day of the move, will I need to be there?

Most patients won’t need any help being moved to the new building – we transfer patients between wards and departments all the time, and it won’t be a lot different. However, if your family member would be more comfortable with you there, we may ask you to be on hand during the move. We’ll be handing out lots of information and there’ll be plenty of signage, but if you have any questions, please speak to the Charge Nurse on the ward/department beforehand.

How many staff are moving to Hagley?

Around 3000 staff will move to Hagley from their existing wards and departments.

Will there be extra parking?

Visitors to Christchurch Hospital should continue to make use of the free Park and Ride facilities at the Lichfield Street car park (the ride is free, but you still need to pay for your parking) The free shuttle will continue to drop people at the front entrance of Christchurch Hospital and patients and visitors can make their way to Hagley via the new link corridor. The walk is all undercover and signposted. There will be limited emergency drop off and pickup parking in front of the new building and some time-restricted mobility parking, but there will be no additional long-term parking available at the hospital.

Where will I go for Emergency assistance?

As always, if you have an emergency, you should call 111 for an ambulance. The new hospital Emergency Department (ED) will be located on the ground floor of Hagley. If you are being driven to ED, you’ll be able to come into the main entrance off Riccarton Avenue to the emergency drop off area outside Hagley, just to the left of Christchurch Women’s Hospital. This will be a drop-off and pick-up zone only with limited time-restricted parking. This is also where ambulances will drop off to.

Where do I go to visit someone at Hagley?

You will be able to get to Hagley from the main entrance of the Christchurch Hospital and through the link walkway on the ground floor. Hagley also has its own entrance from the drop-off zone, beside the Emergency Department entrance.  There is an information desk in the ground floor entrance lobby.

What’s happening with all the old spaces?

There will be movements of other wards from around the hospital into vacated spaces to make way for future development.

Was the public consulted on the project?

Yes. Extensive consultation occurred in 2010 jointly between the CDHB and the Christchurch City Council, including public notices, stakeholder engagement, several public meetings and a full public submissions process. Feedback was very positive, with 233 of 248 submissions in support of the proposals.

Who designed the building?

A team of internationally renowned health-sector architects and health planners has worked on the designs. Canterbury DHB clinical and ancillary staff, other health providers, hospital suppliers and service providers, patient groups and some members of the public have also been involved in the design process.

How do I find out more?

Keep an eye on this website for updates or send an email to itsallhappening@cdhb.health.nz and one of the project team will respond.