OtherMon 21 Mar 22

TUD Awards Winner: Excellence in Community Engagement

The fourth annual The Urban Developer Awards, in association with Trilogy Funds, recognises standout property industry performers from across Australasia.

The awards program is delivered digitally, replacing the previously-held black-tie gala dinner with our virtual celebration of content.

Today, we celebrate Excellence in Community Engagement, proudly presented by MYBOS.

This award recognises an individual or series of initiatives and/or programs that directly engage with community stakeholders to deliver an economic, social and public benefit.

The finalists for Excellence in Community Engagement are:

WIDAC - Education Scholarship Initiative
WIDAC
Sebel at Silverwoods Golf and Lifestyle Resort
Hutchinson Builders
UEMSunrise - Foodbank International Student Pop Up Store
UEM Sunrise
Olivine Place by Mirvac
Mirvac
Foyer Central
SGCH
Honeysuckle Ideas Engagement Campaign: Honeysuckle West
Hunter Central Coast Development Corporation (HCCDC) and Mara Consulting
Codesigning Victoria's Mental Health Beds Expansion
Victorian Health Building Authority
Mount Isa Civic Precinct
Place Design Group and Fulton Trotter Architects

And the winner is...

About this project

In response to the Royal Commission’s report on Mental Health in Victoria, the Victorian Health Building Authority managed the delivery of the majority of 144 new beds across four precincts in Melbourne and Geelong in 2021.

The Victorian Health Building Authority conducted workshops and meetings with stakeholders including clinicians, consumers, architects, health services and key industry and consumer groups, and built a prototype to allow stakeholders to provide feedback.

They reworked procedures of engaging with health services that potentially caused trauma for consumers and families and allowed stakeholders to walk through a full-scale model of a room to then provide feedback before revisions.

The modular 144 acute mental health beds delivered will help 2500 Victorians a year.

Project details

The co-design approach is founded on the principle that the people most likely to be affected by a proposal should be deeply involved in its development. In order to facilitate this involvement, the engagement process offered two flagship activities to bring participants into the design process.
The project included a bedroom prototype constructed by a modular building firm to delivery specification with all proposed fittings and technologies incorporated. Sensitive aspects such as ligature proof design to mitigate self-harm and movement detection technology to track movement were included, simultaneously delivering a non-clinical feel to the bedroom.
1:1 scale floorplan projection allowing staff and lived experience consumers to "walk through" each facility, move furniture around bedrooms, consider sightlines and other safety design features and get a feel for how each unit would function.