Retrofit South Melbourne Children’s and Maternal Health Centre Development Management
Artist's impression. Source: City of Port Phillip
Artist's impression. Source: City of Port Phillip
Artist's impression. Source: City of Port Phillip
TThe Challenge: The objective was to significantly expand the centre's capacity, but the project faced a critical operational bottleneck: a severe lack of ancillary amenity to support the increased licensed places. The project team had to navigate this functional upgrade within a fixed budget and a typically slow statutory environment. The risk was delivering a compromised "capacity increase" that failed operationally, or blowing the budget on a new build that ignored the environmental value of the existing structure.
The Intervention: We drove a strategy of adaptive reuse and capital discipline. Instead of a carbon-intensive demolition, we prioritized a deep retrofit of the existing asset. This approach significantly reduced embodied carbon by retaining the primary structure, while targeted upgrades improved operational efficiency to meet modern environmental objectives. We successfully embedded the necessary Early Learning amenities into this retrofitted footprint without exceeding the budget. Simultaneously, we aggressively managed the statutory interface, clearing planning permits 12 months ahead of schedule.
Our Impact:
Environmental Stewardship: Championed a "Retain & Retrofit" strategy that minimized embodied carbon and optimized operational energy performance, delivering a thoughtful environmental outcome.
Funding Uplift: Identified systemic funding gaps and successfully advocated for a 30% increase in the broader pipeline funding.
Statutory Acceleration: Secured Town Planning permits 12 months ahead of schedule, significantly reducing program risk despite complex heritage constraints.
Strategic Delivery: Managed the full lifecycle from Business Case to Construction Documentation, ensuring zero scope creep on a constrained site.
Commercial Procurement: Executed a competitive procurement strategy to select a high-performance consulting team, balancing value-for-money with industry-leading expertise.
Stakeholder Alignment: Acted as the single point of truth between Council, Centre operators, statutory authorities, and the consultant team.