The Queensland Government’s $250 million Cairns Hospital Expansion project has reached a major milestone, with Hansen Yuncken being awarded the tender.
The project, which will deliver an additional 96 beds for the Cairns and Hinterland region, includes 64 beds at Cairns Hospital, and 32 additional beds in a new, state-of-the-art surgical centre.
“I am proud to announce Hansen Yuncken – who has been operating in the Cairns and Far North Queensland region since 2008 – has been awarded the tender for the $250 million Cairns Hospital Expansion,” said Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, Yvette D’Ath.
“Hansen Yuncken will partner across Queensland’s health system to bring together an innovative and modern design based on the principles of people (including our First Nations communities), place, value and technology.”
The new surgical centre will be adjacent to James Cook University’s Cairns Tropical Enterprise Centre (CTEC), which will form part of the Far North Queensland Health Innovation Precinct, allowing for stronger linkages for teaching, learning and research.
The site for the new surgical centre, on the corner of Charles and Digger Streets in Cairns North, is also close to the Cairns Hospital campus.
The hospital expansion works will create more than 610 jobs during the construction phase.
Also underway at Cairns Hospital is a new $70 million mental health unit featuring a total of 53 beds, including a 10-bed mental health intensive care unit.
Works are also continuing on the $26.5 million Cairns Hospital Emergency Department expansion to deliver additional capacity, a dedicated x-ray suite, refurbished resuscitation areas and additional procedure rooms.
The first stage of the Emergency Department expansion is expected to be open in June 2023, with the full project due for completion in early 2024.
Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk said the projects will bring state-of-the-art health services to Cairns, and significantly bolster capacity in the region.
“There is currently around $350 million worth of hospital expansions and upgrades in Cairns,” she said.
“We have also been investing heavily in the Tablelands, with the $86.4 million Atherton Hospital redevelopment due to open next month.
“Our Government is committed to delivering more beds, more services and more frontline health workers for Far North Queensland.”
Under the managing contractor model, Hansen Yuncken will deliver the detailed design for the project.
The Queensland Government provided $15 million funding for the acquisition of land for the future Cairns Health and Innovation Centre, and $1.5 million for the preparation of a preliminary business case in 2020.
Queensland Health finalised the acquisition of the parcel of land approximately 3230 sqm on the corner of Charles and Digger Streets from JCU in 2022.
The State Government has provided $4.65 million for the detailed business case for the Cairns Health and Innovation Centre to progress detailed planning for the project, with the business case expected to be completed by the end of this year.
The Cairns Health and Innovation Centre will be on the same site as the new 32-bed surgical centre.
The Cairns Hospital Expansion project is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026.
