HMRB UPDATE

JUNE 2023
Welcome to the June update for Flinders University’s
Health and Medical Research Building (HMRB).
In this issue we’ll provide an update on the topping out ceremony, and share more detail on HMRB's Indigenous Cultural Narrative.

The centrepiece of the Flinders Village development, the Health and Medical Research Building (HMRB) will be an outstanding biomedical research facility for Southern Adelaide. Providing a catalyst for investment in the south, HMRB is creating 750 construction-related jobs over 2.5 years and, once complete, will be part of a 20,000 strong employment hub and the base for approximately 600 people.

With a focus on collaboration, HMRB will bring together researchers, healthcare and industry partners to translate world-class research into better outcomes for our community. HMRB is Flinders University's investment in future healthcare that will change lives and change the world.

HMRB reaches new heights

Nadia Clancy MP, Premier Peter Malinauskas, Erin Thompson MP, Louise Miller-Frost MP,
Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin Stirling, Minister Chris Picton

The new heart of South Australia’s largest integrated health and medical research precinct soared to new heights, with the topping out of the $255 million HMRB in April.

Celebrating the milestone, Flinders University was delighted to welcome South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, Minister for Health and Wellbeing Chris Picton, Member for Boothby Louise Miller-Frost, Member for Davenport Erin Thompson, and Member for Elder Nadia Clancy.

According to Premier Peter Malinauskas, Flinders’ Health and Medical Research Building will utterly transform the south and this biomedical precinct, while building on the University’s 50-year partnership with the Flinders Medical Centre, just metres away.

“The state-of-the-art facility will be a game-changer for health and medical research in South Australia, complementing the Government’s generational investment to rebuild the State’s health system,” he said.

“Today’s topping out is a great milestone for the advancement of health and medical research in our state, and I congratulate Flinders University for their research excellence, innovation and commitment to the health and wellbeing of our community.”

Flinders University Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin Stirling said in the past five years, Flinders’ research income has grown by more than 140 per cent, spearheaded by an expansion in the medical nursing and health sciences disciplines that have recorded unprecedented growth in that time.

“Building on our proud history as a pioneer in innovative health as the first medical school in the nation to be integrated into a public hospital, HMRB is a $255 million gift from the University to the people of South Australia,” Professor Stirling said.

“Our research will tackle major health challenges of the 21^st century, including early determinants of disease, the burden of chronic disease and pain, Indigenous health, maternal and child health, and the search for increasingly effective treatments for diabetes, infection and cancers.”

Thank you to all who attended on the day, and of course to our many partners who are still hard at work to take HMRB through its next stages before its completion in 2024.

Construction update

Despite the recent wet weather, HMRB continues to take shape. Now that the building has formally topped out, the main change we'll see from the outside is the ongoing installation of the façade. The specially designed panels are continuing to give HMRB its final shape, with a focus from Level 3 to Level 7 and on the south elevation to allow the wet lab installation to progress once the building is watertight.

The Level 10 plantroom and Level 9 mezzanine structural steel installation are now complete, with works progressing on the roof to Level 10.

Fitout works are ongoing across all levels, including the first fix services to the Level 10 plantroom. 

HMRB is now connected to water and sewerage, stormwater and natural gas, and the ICT fibre connection is also in place. A huge thank you to our precinct partners who have patiently worked with us to manage roadworks on University Drive and Sports Road during this time.

We have also begun to host tours of the site for some of the researchers and clinical staff who will move into HMRB next year. It's very exciting to share their first glimpses of the spaces that will become the new health and medical research labs over the next few months.

Indigenous Cultural Narrative

Indigenous cultural narratives are helping shape our new campus developments by respecting and recognising people and Country, honouring long-held knowledges and philosophies and embedding meaning through careful consideration of how buildings and landscapes sit on Indigenous lands.

With our Bedford Park campus located on Kaurna Country, Flinders University has chosen to centre Kaurna ways of ‘knowing, being and doing’ in HMRB.

Thanks to shared wisdom and guidance from the Cultural Narrative and Indigenous Art Advisory Panel, including Senior Elder Uncle Lewis Yarlupurka O’Brien, HMRB’s design does more than acknowledge Kaurna philosophies; it is integrated into the local landscape, aligned with significant Kaurna sites and seeks to work with Country rather than be imposed on it.

Shared by Uncle Lewis, Kaurna Yarta (Kaurna Country) had the most vibrant rainbow-coloured dunes, over 20 feet high along the coastline, and was a place of shelter and community for Kaurna people.

The rainbow sand represents the past and makes sense of the place on Country. Sand, water, wind and rainbows are all shifting and moving and always becoming. The building will be a reflection of the rainbow sands and the rainbow in the skies, with the significance of double rainbows representing the Kaurna way of knowing duality. 

Taking inspiration from Rainbow Yarta, each level of HMRB corresponds with the rainbow sands and acknowledges what was once there, what is, and what will come.

HMRB’s aluminium façade panels are aligned to draw the eye to significant Kaurna sites and features a design by Indigenous artist James Tylor. Based on body painting from the traditional Kuri ceremony, the pattern represents the coming together of people to exchange knowledge and information; the point where songlines intersect and new ideas are shared, speaking to the intention at the heart of HMRB.

These themes extend to both interior artwork and to landscaping, where a traditional Indigenous Bush Medicine Garden will serve as a reminder of the value of Indigenous knowledges and connection to Country.

HMRB will be a place that truly represents Flinders’ mission to change lives and change the world.

Timelapse June 2023

Support HMRB

HMRB is all about preventing and treating disease through collaboration - between researchers, industry, healthcare professionals and the community. We know that when we come together for a common goal, we can achieve great things and change lives.

That's why we're reaching out to our Flinders community – please join us to support the vital research that will take place within HMRB, so that our researchers can change lives and change the world.

If you were forwarded this email and would like to subscribe for further updates, please email HMRB@flinders.edu.au