Integrated medical facility announced for Queenstown’s Remarkables Park
Plans have been announced today for the development of an integrated medical facility for Queenstown on land fully zoned
for medical services at Remarkables Park.
It is to be centrally located for the wider Queenstown urban area on Hawthorne Drive, within easy reach of the airport
and the State Highways to the north and south.
The planned 6,000m2 facility will house a diverse and complementary range of medical specialities including an MRI Unit,
announced by Pacific Radiology today, to be established initially in a relocatable facility at Remarkables Park in the
first quarter of 2017.
The proposed integrated medical facility has a number of confirmed providers taking tenancies in the building, with the
intention of closely integrating their services around a private hospital and radiology imaging unit.
Proposed services include Skin Institute Queenstown, surgical endoscopy services, a leading New Zealand eye clinic,
General Practice including an Urgent Care clinic and surgical consultants of all major specialities. A joint venture
with a large New Zealand private hospital provider will increase access to surgery and clinical investigations not
previously available to Queenstown residents and visitors to the Lakes District region.
Leading edge technology companies including Queenstown Regenerative Medicine’s stem cell laboratory, and a potential
partnership with a new immunotherapy clinic from Australia, will further enhance Queenstown’s attraction for innovative
new health services.
As a result of ongoing enquiries, the design of the new medical building is evolving and further additions are
anticipated. The current design has four storeys, however zoning allows for six levels enabling additional health
providers to be easily accommodated, further enhancing the integrated health co-location benefits this facility will
provide.
Many years in the planning, the project is the vision of Dr Hans Raetz, director of Skin Institute Queenstown, and
Remarkables Park Ltd chief executive Alastair Porter. They were both confident the facility would be welcomed by the
wider Queenstown community.
Dr Raetz said “there’s no doubt Queenstown is famous for its extraordinary location, however that presents challenges
when it comes to accessing medical services and specialists.”
Mr Porter said the high rate of growth in Queenstown means it will end up as the third largest population base in the
South Island.
“In fact, combining visitor and local numbers it already achieves that status from time to time. As such, it is highly
desirable that a much wider range of medical services becomes available in Queenstown,” said Mr Porter.
The first of these services to open will be the MRI unit provided by world-class medical imaging provider Pacific
Radiology.
Dr Lance Lawler, chief executive of Pacific Radiology Group, said his team recognised the critical need for their MRI
services in the Queenstown region.
“The need for MRI services in the Southern Lakes region is so significant that we’re opening our facility ahead of the
main medical building in a relocatable structure on the future integrated facility site at Remarkables Park. We believe
in acting quickly to best service local and visitor needs and so we expect to be operational from Autumn 2017,” said Dr
Lawler.
Dr Raetz said “it’s very rewarding to see this integrated health project becoming a reality and great to have the
support of a whole range of healthcare professionals who want to establish their services here. We can also make more
space available for other health professional services. We welcome Pacific Radiology’s MRI unit as a key anchor for what
will become a busy and essential facility for Queenstown.”
Design for the $20million building is now underway and it’s expected construction work could begin in 2017. Equipment
and medical fit-out costs are expected to be more than $10million.
Mr Porter indicated that adjacent land has also been set aside for future expansion of medical facilities, related
services and senior living opportunities.
ENDS