Be Patient But Take Risks, Healthcare Players Urged

Taking risks was all part of the strategy for Australian Unity general manager for healthcare Chris Smith when developing what will be Australia’s first all-electric private hospital.

“It’s a case of build it and they will come,” Smith said. “If you don’t build it, they won’t come.”

Australian Unity Healthcare Property Trust began construction of the developer in St Albans, 17km north-west of Melbourne, in April, 2021 and it was completed this year.

Currently, 64 per cent of the building is tenanted. The Sunshine Private Hospital is the anchor tenant.

It is opposite the Western Health-operated public hospital Sunshine Hospital. 

The hospital features four operating theatres, an endoscopy suite, a 30-bed medical and surgical ward including high-dependency beds, a 21-bed women’s mental health inpatient unit, mental health outpatient services, consulting suites and sleep study facilities.

Unitas HC will become the operator of the hospital under a 30-year lease deal, while Australian Unity will retain it as an asset. 

The risks, obstacles and key lessons learnt during the process will be the focus of Smith’s presentation at The Urban Developer’s Healthcare Real Estate vSummit on Thursday, November 30.

▲ An aerial view of the Sunshine Private Hospital in St Albans, Melbourne, developed by Australian Unity's Healthcare Property Trust.

The 51-bed hospital cost $84 million to build. Work on planning for the hospital and its buildings first began in 2008 under a 15-year timeline for its delivery on the 1.34ha site—so patience has also been important. 

“My first introduction to the project was in 2008,” Smith said.

Smith became involved with the project in 2008 but with the financial crisis in that same year, things took longer than expected.

“We finally purchased property in 2017,” Smith said.  

“We are 40 per cent of the way through the journey.”

Smith is referring to the fact that the hospital is just one part of the Sunshine Health Wellbeing and Education Precinct with more buildings planned for the site.

The current building now has two additional floors with the fourth and fifth floor set up so that they can be converted into working lab space once other buildings on the site are completed.

Sunshine is expected to have 1.2 million residents by 2036. Building a private hospital allows for beds to be freed up in the area’s public hospitals providing more accessible services to residents.

It also encourages more health workers to live and work in the area as it becomes easier for them to work in the public and private sectors.

Australian Unity’s Healthcare Property Trust was launched in 1999 with $3.8 billion.