Mayor's Message: Call for Nelson Hospital update

The redevelopment of Nelson Hospital is the most important infrastructure project for our region this decade. Nelson Council at its June meeting resolved to seek a full briefing from Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ) on progress, out of concern over delays.

The need for the upgrade is unquestionable and urgent. The Government’s 2020 review of clinical facilities found the George Manson Building the worst in the country. This tower block and the adjacent Percy Brunette Building have been determined by engineers under the updated 2016 Building Act to be earthquake prone. These buildings are less than 34% of the strength required and are likely to be so damaged in a significant earthquake as to be unusable. The risk of Nelson not having a functional hospital after a major quake is a nightmare scenario that we must all work hard to avoid.

Nelson City Council in 2020 issued Earthquake Prone Building Notices for these two buildings that require they be strengthened or replaced by November 2028. I was encouraged by the commitment from Health Minister Little in 2021 and repeated in 2022 that construction would begin this year. There has been no public update but documents released to TVNZ last month show major delays. Indications are that construction now won’t begin until 2026.

This slippage gives me concern that the statutory timetable Council has a duty to enforce will not be met. It’s a massive project with an estimated budget of $800 million and a peak workforce of 1000 workers. We know from the experience of hospital builds in Christchurch and Greymouth that they take many years. Dunedin’s construction began last year but completion is not scheduled until 2029.

Council has two important roles on this project – a regulatory role to ensure the seismic strengthening timetable is met and managing the many resource and building consents. We could recruit specific dedicated staff to facilitate faster processing if we better knew the timetable.
We also have an important advocacy role on behalf of the Nelson community. Nelson had a community voice since 1885 through the Hospital and then Health Boards, but it was abolished last year.

We wish to know from Te Whatu Ora the programme to meet the statutory fix date of November 2028 and its plans to consult with the local neighbourhood. Will the new hospital continue to have an early childhood centre, how can we integrate our improvements in public transport and cycleways with the development, what parking provisions are there in the new design and does the number of hospital beds adequately cater for the growth and ageing of the region’s population?

We are committed to working collaboratively with Te Whatu Ora and whomever is Government to get the best possible outcome for Nelson. Our goal is a safe, well-designed hospital facility that will meet the health needs of the region for the next half century.