About

Wellington's Wakefield Hospital rebuilt in stages, its clinical heart base-isolated to keep running through a major earthquake, all while it kept operating.

Wakefield Hospital

Project Lead

Ben Gurton

Client

Evolution Healthcare NZ

Service

Management

Location

Wellington

Sector

Health

Status

Completed 2025

Wakefield Hospital has been a cornerstone of private healthcare in Wellington for decades. Its multi-stage redevelopment modernises the hospital and lifts its seismic resilience, centred on an IL3 base-isolated clinical building designed to keep running through a major earthquake, and delivered in stages so the hospital never had to close.

Stage 1 opened in 2021, a five-storey non-clinical building bringing together consulting suites, radiology, a café and administration. Stage 2 delivered the clinical heart of the hospital, a five-storey building with seven operating theatres, two cardiac catheterisation labs, intensive care and high-dependency beds and inpatient wards, and a shelled top floor held for future growth. The final stage is under way, clearing the last of the old hospital for a new car park with electric-vehicle charging and fitting out the top floor for more inpatient beds.

Steadying a live build

RCP came onto the project during Stage 1 construction to steady delivery, providing project management, Engineer to the Contract and Engineer's Representative services, and bringing governance, contract administration and programme control to bear. Through Stage 2 the role expanded to design management and management of the commissioning process, coordinating the clinical spaces to the hospital's operational needs so every system was proven before opening. RCP's involvement has continued across the redevelopment since 2021.

The hospital has not lost a single day of revenue-generating operation through the redevelopment, a measure of how tightly the staging has been managed.