Project
Waipapa is New Zealand’s largest-ever public hospital project – and the most resilient. As a base-isolated Importance Level 4 facility, Waipapa is designed to remain fully operational and able to provide acute clinical services immediately post-disaster. With the earthquakes causing significant damage to hospital facilities, the redevelopment also became an important Rebuild project – fast-tracked to alleviate the more immediate demand for hospital services and allow earthquake-related repairs and strengthening works to be performed on the hospital site.
The 62’000m2 facility is base-isolated and designed to Importance Level 4 seismic resilience. It houses 12 new operating theatres and procedure rooms (allowing an additional 6,000 surgeries a year); 413 in-patient beds; expanded emergency and radiology departments, a state-of-the-art intensive care unit, a specialised oncology unit, paediatric wards, a haematology ward and a rooftop helipad that will significantly reduce transit times for patients.
Modempak and Esco Industries were thrilled to be selected by The Canterbury District Health Board as the approved supplier of a complete Modular Services Wall – supply and installation for all bedrooms in the Hospital. We teamed up with another local supplier – Warringah Plastics and together with Canterbury District Health Board we were able to resolve design, develop and manufacture a market-first, innovative, quick install, multipart wall service module which included electrical, data, medical gas, nurse call, drawers and cabinets for accessories and over bed lighting. It was a great example of what can be achieved when all parties work together and combine their skills perfectly, the result was both attractive and functional.
To achieve a solution where ‘form follows function’ we worked with the key stakeholders and used all in house capabilities available across the team to develop and design for manufacturability, resolving design to prototype and prototype to mass manufacture using our range of capabilities, like: electrical wiring to AS3003 standard, bulk assembly, vacuum forming, CNC trimming, sonic welding and assembly fabrication. The use of twin-skinning, e.g. making 2 mating parts as one part, makes for light-weight, strong and rigid parts. The result is a world first plug and play, quick assemble unit that both looks great and goes above and beyond the strict hospital design health codes.