Greenfields hospital proponent Dan Druzianic, left, with land owner Barry Rosenberg, Tukituki MP Anna Lorck and Mitchell Daysh resource management and planning consultant Tom Hosford. Photo / Paul Taylor
Greenfields hospital proponent Dan Druzianic, left, with land owner Barry Rosenberg, Tukituki MP Anna Lorck and Mitchell Daysh resource management and planning consultant Tom Hosford. Photo / Paul Taylor
It was either the corner of York Road or Pakipaki.
The group, led by former Hawke’s Bay DistrictHealth Board member Dan Druzianic, has unveiled plans to put a hospital on a brand new site, following a 12-month search.
The proposal has been put to Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand’s regional capital lead for projects, Andrew Boyd, and now the wait begins to see if funding will be directed at a greenfields project or redevelopment of the existing hospital in Hastings.
Te Whatu Ora is in the process of compiling a clinical services plan for Hawke’s Bay, which is expected to be completed in September.
Druzianic said the site was chosen because of “Proximity to the expressway, quality of the no-liquefaction soils at the back of this property, adjacency to services, and proximity to the populations of Napier and Hastings”.
“Havelock North can come in the back way, so can Waipukurau, so it’s a great location.
“We’ve done a study and this no-liquefaction finger of land that goes through here - this eight or nine hectares coming through from Flaxmere - is the only land of its kind on the expressway unless you go right out to Pakipaki.’’
This is not to say a hospital will definitely end up there. Or that Te Whatu Ora will even rubber stamp a $700 million to $1 billion spend for Hawke’s Bay health care.
But, as part of the decision-making process, Te Whatu Ora required a greenfield option to be explored and this is it.
Artist's impression of what the new Hawke's Bay Regional Hospital could resemble. Photo / Supplied
“They’re excited by the opportunity, because sites of this size, with these qualities, are very hard to find. It makes a lot of sense for them to integrate this as an option for the feasibility studies,” said Druzianic.
One of the advantages of the proposed 24-hectare site is it will be across the road from a new Heretaunga Tamatea Settlement Trust housing development, which will mean easier and quicker access to essential services such as water and sewerage.
Then there is the expressway itself.
“If there’s anything the post-cyclone planning has told us, it’s that the main arterial route is the lifeline to Napier,” Druzianic said.
“Whatever happens in the future, they’ve got to double-lane [the expressway], raise it, make bridges higher, and protect this arterial route at all costs and it makes sense for the region’s lifeline assets to be adjacent to that road.”
Druzianic spent nine years on the old District Health Board and said he knows the condition the existing hospital is in, how far money would go on its potential redevelopment, and how disruptive projects, such as knocking down the tower block, would be to services.
Should the greenfields option be taken by Te Whatu Ora, the question is then what should be done with the existing hospital’s land?
“You’ve got a 12-hectare site in the middle of Hastings, with services, where you can put 500 medium-density homes, which is in line with the council’s intensification policy,” said Druzianic.
Tukituki MP Anna Lorck was among a group who toured the greenfields site on Friday, which is currently owned by the Rosenberg family.
“My job as a local MP is to make sure that if we’re looking at building a new hospital for Hawke’s Bay or redeveloping the existing site, that both go through a robust process to determine which is the best place and where it should be,’’ Lorck said.
