CSU and WSU Joint Program of Medicine

CSU won federal funding to develop and provide a program in rural medicine. BHA worked with the University from day one to scope the operational needs of the new learning program and determine how these could be best integrated into the existing campus. Through detailed workshops with Stakeholders we worked with the University to assess all health learning on the Orange campus to create an integrated approach to the provision of new facilities, providing both the detailed requirements of the new Medicine program but also to enhance facilities for all health science students. Master planning lead to the design and construction of new student facing facilities (including an anatomy laboratory, problem based learning suite, collaborative learning and clinical tutorial rooms) along with a new Health Academic Hub building. The Academic Hub Building brings together all staff supporting health programs with the new Medical staff in a shared workplace. CSU used a workshop methodology to ensure ownership of the decisions made by the key stakeholders to develop the workplace model and design. Our design for the project utilises a hybrid owned open workplace model. This workplace model provides for a workstation for the majority of staff, with a range of supporting quiet and meeting spaces along with enclosed workspaces where there is an operational requirement. BHA worked closely with the University to develop a spatial design that provides separation and group addresses to open work areas, careful consideration and provision of appropriate acoustic management to create a workable environment and provisions of a range of secondary work environments to support different pattens of work across the work day, is key to workplace design. Once the University had determined its functional requirements our team through careful management of the design process completed the design and documentation: • Within an extremely tight time frame to ensure that the contractor commenced on site within the required Federal Government funding deadline. • Prepared and managed a design that was within the Funding Controls. The first cohort of Medicine students were welcomed to the School in 2021, with the official opening required to be postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions. In February this year the second cohort of Medicine students commenced the five-year course. There are 39 students from rural backgrounds in this cohort, including three First Nations students. Photography by Lipman images