Contract for the delivery of infrastructure and services

A project agreement was executed on 20 November 2007 between the Minister for Health on behalf of the State of Victoria and Children's Health Partnership (project company) which required the project company to:

•  finance, design and construct the new facility in two stages as follows:

•  stage one-construct all elements of the hospital and fully transition the hospital functions to the new facility by December 2011

•  stage two-demolish existing buildings that are not to be retained, and undertake further work on Murdoch Children's Research Institute space, commercial precinct construction and reinstatement of the existing site for handback to the state by 2014

•  provide ongoing delivery of general services, help desk, building management, utilities and medical gas management, waste, security, car parking, grounds and gardens maintenance, and pest control-for a period of 25 years, from the expected completion of the facility in December 2011 to December 2036.

The project company has in turn entered into a range of contractual relationships with the following consortium partners to deliver elements of the project:

•  equity provider-Babcock & Brown International Pty Ltd was the original project sponsor and underwrote the equity requirement for CHP, before a change in control was approved by the Minister for Health in 2008 to sell this stake to a satellite fund called Babcock & Brown Public Partnerships, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

•  financiers-CHP has arranged for the involvement of a number of financiers to raise funds to pay for the construction of the hospital and other associated costs. A majority of the funding for the project has been raised from the issue of bonds into the capital market. The raised proceeds have been placed in a deposit account managed by the security trustee (Bank of New York Mellon) until funds are required for the project.

•  architects-Billard Leece, Bates Smart and HKS (US)

•  builder-Bovis Lend Lease Pty Ltd has been engaged to design and construct and commission the new facility and to demolish and remediate that part of the existing site that will be reinstated as park land in Royal Park

•  facilities management contractor-Spotless P&F Pty Ltd has been engaged to provide a range of facility management related services over the operating phase of the project.

An artist’s impression of the main internal walkway of the new hospital.

(Image courtesy of Billard Leece Bates Smart and Sharp Design)