Health and Wellbeing Services at Te Kohao Health Wellness and Diagnostics Centre
A COMMUNITY WORKING TOGETHER TO HELP THOSE MOST VUNERABLE RECEIVE QUICK AND EFFICIENT HEALTHCARE. A PLACE OF MEANING, BELONGING AND HEALING
Situated in Enderley Hamtilon, a Māori health and wellbeing Centre provides many services. The large building consist of a Medical Practice, Pharmacy, Diagnostics Centre and Carving Studio. Like none other, the Centre offers a traditional Māori healing process, a sense of belonging and relief to a struggling health system.
Lobell first caught the attention of Te Kohao Health Ltd during the tendering process. ‘’Going back 30 years, having been in the construction industry, I knew of Lue Shaw from Lue Shaw Builders and met him a handful of times through masterbuilders. Lobell was also highly recommended to us by ECS Group.
This background knowledge and recommendation gave Lobell a slight edge’’ Andrew and his team began narrowing down all tenderers. Lobell's collaborative approach in supporting Te Kohao Health's desire to honor Māori values and traditions in the construction process ultimately secured them the job.
Andrew explains the purpose and plan of the Te Kohao Health Centre. ‘’The key to this project is, we are looking at making a difference in Māori health, it’s the five big killers for Māori that require early detection.
‘’During the construction phase, Lobell had a complete grip on the project and their sub-contractors. Lobell would front-foot issues before they arose and the project control group meetings ran perfectly, with items discussed and actioned immediately’’
Andrew Roche, Project Manager
So by combining medical care, scanning and diagnostics the objective was to turn the wait time from 36 months to five days’’. Further to this, Andrews says ’’Adding a carving studio to this center is a way for people to heal and process upsetting news outside of the hospital norm’’.
Heading into the pre-construction steps Andrew met with Louis and the rest of the team ‘’I had confidence of knowing they had 30 years experience working in the industry and Waikato area’’.
In February 2023, Lobell encountered difficult civil groundwork when a stream from roughly 100 years ago had been backfilled with large trees and old, rusted vehicles. As a result, Lobell had to dig five meters deep and remove substantial amounts of scrap metal.
After completing the laborious groundwork, Lobell began the construction process, whichb involved large concrete pours, structural steel erection, and timber framing. Confident in the quality of Lobell’s work and team, we were awarded the Pacific Radiology fitout contract.
A key element of the design structure included numerous unique Māori Whakairo (carvings) and artwork, each telling a significant story of each Iwi and representing Māori values and traditions.
Overall the project was completed in April 2024. Lobell achieved code of compliance for the base build and Certificate of Public Use for the Pacific Radiology in time for the grand opening. The late Māori King blessed the opening ceremony with a prayer followed by a speech. News outlets and reporter were there to capture the special day.
’The project management team, construction management team and carpenters all became part of the family. We had no issues with Lobell and would definitely work with them again!’’