Issue 8 - 3 September 2012 enews home

Work to start on Menzies building at Casuarina campus


By Robyn McDougall


CDU Vice-Chancellor Professor Barney Glover, the NT Branch Manager of Lahey Constructions, Bill Maley, and Menzies' Acting Director Associate Professor Ross Andrews turn a sod signifying the start of construction on the multi-million-dollar Menzies School of Health Research building on Casuarina campus

Site work for a multi-million-dollar Menzies School of Health Research facility will begin on Casuarina campus this month.

The building, which will be situated on the northern side of the campus between the library and International House Darwin, is expected to be completed by September 2013.

The complex is part of a $45.7 million expansion of Menzies, which also includes a new building and upgrade of Menzies' existing facility at Royal Darwin Hospital.

The Senior Manager of Major Projects at CDU, Ken Suter, said site works on Casuarina campus were expected to start in the middle of the month and would involve the site beside the Chinese Garden being fenced off from University Drive North to the library.

He said the pedestrian traffic from International House Darwin (IHD) to the campus would be redirected to the eastern side of the site.

"We are working to minimise disruption to the students who live in IHD as well as library users," Mr Suter said.

The Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Warren Snowdon, and the former Northern Territory Minister for Health, Kon Vatskalis, recently turned the "first sod" to celebrate the start of construction.

Adam Bourke

An artist's impression of the new Menzies School of Health Research building on Casuarina campus
Architecture firm Hames Sharley has designed two ecologically sound buildings that will deliver the RDH and Casuarina campuses a total of 5295m2 in new space.

The buildings will be constructed by Lahey Constructions and will include a 200-seat auditorium on the RDH campus to support Menzies' teaching and learning activities.

Menzies' Acting Director Associate Professor Ross Andrews said new infrastructure would enable the institute to continue its vital medical research in world class facilities.

"This (building) project will secure Menzies' long-term, productive future, and pave the way for our researchers to continue to improve the health of Australians and those in our region," he said.

Menzies was expanding rapidly in response to the increased demand for rigorous, evidence-based input that helped to shape policy and services in the areas of Indigenous and tropical health.

Clinical research capacity will be expanded, including a proposed new Clinical Research Unit, along with the expansion of Menzies' clinically focused research divisions: child health, global and tropical health, wellbeing and preventable chronic diseases.

"We are indebted to the Australian Government, the Northern Territory Government and Charles Darwin University for sharing our vision and funding this project," Dr Andrews said.