The Victorian Government's Cohuna facility, in the Gunbower region 275km north of Melbourne, has passed an important milestone.
Structural works are complete on the $41.1 million Public Sector Residential Aged Care facility, co-located with Cohuna District Hospital, which will operate the home.
The home is part of the Victorian Government’s Regional and Rural Public Sector Residential Aged Care Services Revitalisation Strategy, which is upgrading public sector facilities across the state. Funding for the Cohuna development was included in the Victorian Government's 2023-24 budget, along with public sector aged care homes in Maffra and Numurkah, with a total cost of $162 million.
A Victorian Government spokesperson told The Weekly SOURCE, the Labor Victorian Government has invested $700 million in Public Sector Residential Aged Care Services since 2015-16.
“This funding is transforming aged care facilities across the state, ensuring that our older Victorians, particularly those in regional and rural communities have access to safe, modern and purpose-built homes," they said.
Once complete, the Cohuna home will have:
- 16 aged care beds, all single rooms with ensuite, arranged in two ‘small households’
- an additional eight acute care hospital beds
- a refurbished administrative space
- communal kitchens, dining and lounge areas,
- sitting areas where residents can connect with loved ones and fellow residents.
The Victorian Government is one of the largest aged care builders in the country, albeit the homes it is building are significantly smaller by bedcount than all other builders and cost significantly more per bed to build. Including the eight hospital beds at Cohuna, the project will cost $1.7 million per bed, nearly triple the estimated $500,000 it costs Not For Profits of private aged care developers to build.
The internal fit-out at Cohuna is now underway, alongside progress on the building’s façade. Construction has involved the use of a robotic set-out machine, which ‘prints’ building plans directly onto the slab, improving speed and accuracy of the build. The video below shows the construction underway.
Construction of the Cohuna facility is scheduled for completion in 2027. The Victorian Health Building Authority is the developer, with builder Fairbrother Construction and architect ClarkeHopkinsClarke Architects.
