SAHMRI and new hospital part of major biomedical precinct on North Terrace west

Adelaide Biomed City, the biomedical research precinct on North Terrace west, integrates health knowledge from hospitals, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and the three Adelaide universities.

The $3 billion worth of buildings in the precinct are dominated by the $2.3 billion new Royal Adelaide Hospital, expected to open to patients in 2017.

The hospital is beside the $200 million South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) building, which opened in 2013. Known as “The cheese grater” for its stunning contemporary design, the Woods Bagot-designed building is home to more than 500 researchers.

Next in line is the $231 million University of Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences building. It supports medicinal, nursing and dentistry students and about 400 health sciences researchers. The 12-storey Lyons Architects-designed building is the largest capital works project in the university’s 140-year history. 

The University of South Australia’s $230m 15-storey Health Innovation Building, due to open in 2018, will back a collaborative and holistic approach to health research.

A $280 million “SAHMRI 2”, to be known as the John Chalmers building, has been proposed alongside the SAHMRI building to house Australia’s first proton therapy unit – an $80 million machine to target otherwise inoperable cancerous tumours. Flinders University has committed $60 million to have a cancer research hub in the building while the state government has budgeted $44 million. The federal government needs to contribute $176 million so the project can go ahead.