Mater Private Hospital—A Focus on Patient-first Healthcare Design

Collaboration is vital on any project. When a building as technical as a hospital is delivered four months ahead of schedule, and AUD$2 million (USD$1.375 million) under budget, it becomes a monument to the outstanding level of technical cooperation and logistical unity.

Tetra Tech’s High Performance Buildings Group provided core engineering services in helping achieve this outcome. Tetra Tech also provided innovative solutions to improve patient comfort, while laying the future-proofed technology infrastructure required for modern healthcare facilities, all within tight time and budget constraints.

Located on the outskirts of Brisbane, this hospital deliberately captures a hotel feel, with bedrooms that look domestic and embody Australian undertones. A full-scale prototype of the rooms was developed and thoroughly tested with patients and staff well before final designs and implementation.

Mater’s vision for a Springfield Private Hospital in Queensland, Australia, places the needs of the community, the patients, and the staff at the core of every design consideration. This idea has been executed with exquisite perfection—every centimeter of the hospital exhibits a seamless quality.

The resulting design not only reduces the number of patient falls, but increases the level of patient satisfaction and wellbeing. Each room offers integrated room controls where the patient can adjust the temperature, blinds, and lights. And, in a rarity for hospitals, each bedside has a light pendant, which also is fully adjustable. All services and panels are toned to integrate with wall panels or are hidden in the timber bedheads, while colors, tones, and patterns draw upon the local landscape to connect the interior with exterior finishes. Families are encouraged to become part of the recovery process, supported by the availability of a fold-out bed in every room and unlimited visiting hours.

Although the facility currently offers 80 beds, the hospital has been designed to accommodate planned expansion of 750 beds in the future. Therefore, advanced technological designs were of utmost importance to enable the hospital to accommodate future needs without facilities becoming outdated. This future-proofing is evident through a sophisticated integrated communications network which carries all the information of the building services as well as user requirements. The operating theatres and radiotherapy bunkers are areas with some of the highest technology installations, where digital images can be sent immediately anywhere in the world.