Tablelands Clinical Education Centre
The University of New England's (UNE) School of Rural Medicine in association with the University of Newcastle has built a stand alone Health Teaching Facility that will enable students of both Universities to work in partnership with private practice whilst having direct access to improved training and research facilities.
The building, referred to as the Tablelands Clinical Education Centre (TCEC) will provide closer ties between the medical profession and future health professionals. The co-locating of the School on the site of Armidale Hospital is seen as a strategic opportunity to dovetail the educational process into the real life experience of students working in both a Hospital and Clinical environment.
The TCEC will provide a facility that incorporates both private practice, in the form of a community focused GP Clinic on Level 1 and specialist education facilities to be located on Level's 2 & 3. The educational spaces include Seminar Rooms, Offices, Simulation Laboratories, Tutorial Rooms and academic office space.
The TCEC aims to enhance the significance of the building to both the community and University by seeking to deliver a Green Star environmental rating. This positive response reflects UNE progressive stance towards the environment and the need for healthier buildings. The 3 storey building has sought to provide a contemporary aesthetic solution that embraces the history of the surrounding hospital buildings, whilst through its ESD objectives adopt strategic planning technologies and materials to reduce the environmental impact of the development.
The design is a response to its location on Butler Street and its impact on the adjoining properties. This has fundamentally led a number of the design decisions taken and provided a design outcome that enhances the street frontage, complimenting the adjacent hospital buildings and not adversely impacting on the surrounding residential buildings.
This includes:
- Setting the building back from Butler Street;- Brick facade;- Referencing commercial typology within Armidale and the Hospital site of brick facade and metal cladding to the rear.The Objectives
The TCEC is focused on improving the educational and training experience for medical students within the School of Rural Medicine. The building offers enhanced opportunities to assist students in work placement through direct links to the Armidale Hospital and associated GP Clinic. Key to the training of all future health professionals is the ability to gain real life, on site experience in hospitals. The TCEC aims to provide these opportunities and improve the training currently received by students.
The ability to collocate a University Building within the grounds of the Hospital is unique and will assist both UNE and the city of Armidale in offering students of medicine competitive training opportunities to encourage an increase in student numbers in addition to retaining students in the New England Region.
The Clinic will offer unique relationships between students, staff, professionals and the public. The inclusion of a GP Clinic within the building itself offers exceptional real-life training opportunities for students, enabling opportunities to develop the necessary communication skills required to offer the appropriate counseling and understanding in somewhat difficult circumstances.
In addition to the primary health and educational objectives of the project, a key environmental requirement has been the development of the design to achieve a Green Star rating through the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA). This prestigious rating offers the University the opportunity to demonstrate the environmental credentials of the building. This would not only provide the first Green Star rated building in Armidale but also tap into UNE's future ambition for greening all new buildings.
By seeking a Green Star rating for the Building UNE has inherently sought to achieve a number of environmental measures, many of which require consideration towards the existing site, landscape, surrounding buildings, orientation, shading, materials, traffic, acoustics, stormwater and sewerage. To support the Statement of Environmental Effect a copy of the current
Green Star Roadmap prepared by the specialist ESD Consultant is provided.
Key Project Objectives are identified below:
- Unique Allied Health Facility able to assist in the delivery of placement training for students of the School of Rural Medicine;- New GP Clinic servicing local community;- Safe, secure and amenable facility;- Building to achieve a recognised Green Star rating (4 or 5 Stars);- Contemporary design outcome that is complimentary and considerate of the adjoining properties and Armidale CBD typologies;- Access for all;- Expand the current education and training facilities for health professional students in Armidale;- Facilitate a larger number of health professional students undertaking high level clinical training in the New England region;- Encourage more students to stay longer in the region for clinical training;- Provide greater opportunity for interprofessional health education in the region and for enhanced collaboration between UoN and UNE in health education and training;- Provide significant, state-of-the-art postgraduate learning opportunities for recently graduated health professionals working in the New England region;- Enhance continuing professional development for health professionals working in the New England region;- Expand the opportunity for health research and employment in the region; and- Leverage off the Universities' reputation in Indigenous health education and its translation into effective health delivery in Indigenous communitiesSiting Alternatives
The project was specifically located to enable the TCEC to be part of the community, positioning the facility in the heart of the city and Hospital. This was seen as critical to the project's success in allowing the real life placement opportunities and engaging directly with the community.
The siting of the TCEC has been limited by the site and as such the building has been designed to work within the confines of the space available.
A series of options had been developed as the planning progressed. The result which is the building footprint and planning being submitted as part of the application. In addition to the opportunities presented by the site, the sitting and footprint are very much governed by the directives within the Green Star roadmap to enable the design to achieve the desired rating. This has greatly influenced orientation, sizing, views, and massing.
The project has also been developed in consideration of ADC parking requirements and the impact the building has on existing carparking within the Hospital Grounds. The layout has progressed on the provision of reconfigured parking within the grounds of the hospital improving carparking efficiency and the inclusion of carparking within property owned by UNE facing the Clinic across Butler Street.
