Smoking ceremony recognises stage two redevelopment works

To recognise progress of stage two works related to St John of God Subiaco Hospital’s major redevelopment project and pay respect to the traditional owners of the land on which the hospital is built, appointed builder Multiplex hosted a smoking ceremony.

31 Oct 2024

L-R: Noongar Elder Neville Collard, St John of God Subiaco Hospital (SJGSH) Director of Mission Integration Siobhan Galos, SJGSH Director Redevelopment Daniel Price, Multiplex Senior Project Manager Luke Vibert and SJGSH CEO Tina Chinery.

The Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony was held on the grounds of the hospital and facilitated by Noongar Elder Neville Collard, who provided a brief history of local Aboriginal culture and traditions, and spoke about collaboration between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people over the years, from settlement.

St John of God Subiaco Hospital Redevelopment Director Daniel Price said the ceremony provided members of the broader project team the opportunity to come together and reflect on the rich history of the local area.

“It also allowed us to consider how we are building on and contributing to this incredible history and shaping the future of our hospital and the broader community,” he said.

“Upon completion, this milestone project will ensure that the campus remains a world-class private hospital of clinical excellence into the future and that the health care needs of the growing Western Australian population continue to be met.”

“We are grateful to Multiplex for organising this engaging and thought provoking event.”

Multiplex Regional Director of WA Chris Palandri added, “As a contractor we recognise our responsibility to care for the land we work on. We have made a commitment to listen and learn from our First Nations peoples, so it was wonderful to hear from Uncle Neville and think about the legacy we are carrying forward with this project."

Multiplex was contracted to deliver stage two of the hospital’s four-stage redevelopment project earlier this year, and is now fully mobilised onsite delivering a number of essential engineering and enabling works across the hospital campus.

Stage two works include the replacement of existing lifts across the hospital and upgrade of the main hospital entrance and lobby, to create a more contemporary and inviting environment for patients and visitors when they arrive.

The second stage also involves essential upgrades to secondary and tertiary engineering services, including construction of a new site energy plant and site water plant, as well as upgrade and relocation of existing high-voltage switches.

Stages three and four of the redevelopment will see the construction of a new eight-storey clinical building and an 11-storey medical suites education and research building.

The new clinical building will feature a dedicated Family Birthing Centre, Heart Centre, new state-of-the-art operating theatres, and a new Chapel.