Walker Tips $20m into Western Sydney Research Centre

Billionaire property developer Lang Walker will have a new medical research centre planned for western Sydney named after him after he gave more than $20 million to the project.

The facility, part of the Campbelltown Hospital Precinct, will be home to the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research.

The building will be delivered as part of a research partnership between Western Sydney University, South Western Sydney Local Health District and UNSW Sydney.

The application for the $47.5-million building was lodged as a State Significant Development—the NSW government’s accelerated planning approval process—in October.

Once realised in 2023, the BVN-designed medical education and research facility will enable local researchers to address the region’s health challenges and improve health outcomes for the people of Sydney’s south west—particularly in the Macarthur region.

Research will have a particular focus on health challenges such as mental illness, diabetes, healthcare of Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse communities, paediatrics and addiction medicine.

Walker Corporation executive chairman Lang Walker said together with the assistance of Sydney Local Health District and UNSW Sydney, the dynamic hub for medical education and research would transform Campbelltown Hospital into an internationally recognised research precinct.

“This is such an exciting opportunity for Western Sydney because we are going to have a research building for highly skilled clinicians and researchers who can quickly take a health issue from the bed to the laboratory and back to the bed again, to find fast solutions,” Walker said.

“Working in partnership with our research partners and Western Sydney University we are going to totally transform the way we process information to help people and their families in south-west Sydney.”

Walker has already invested heavily in western Sydney delivering one of the largest urban renewal projects in the country, the $2.7-billion, 290,000sq m, Parramatta Square office precinct in the city’s CBD.`

The development includes four towers, premium-grade office space, a multi-level retail podium and civic buildings, as well as a university campus as part of the wider precinct.

The developer has partnered with Western Sydney University to deliver a new $340-million vertical city campus with more than 26,000sq m of floor space in the heart of Bankstown city’s cultural centre.

Earlier this month, the philanthropic developer similarly threw his support behind the controversial Powerhouse Parramatta project, donating $20 million.

The University of Western Sydney has also come on board with a $10 million investment, to secure its place as the museum’s foundation co-partner, along with the Walker family foundation.

Walker joined the board of trustees for the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, better known as Ultimo’s Powerhouse museum, in November 2020.

The combined $30-million donation will go a considerable way towards reaching the $75 million in philanthropic donations Powerhouse Parramatta must raise if the project is to go ahead.