Healing Spaces: Building a Hospital in the Heart of a City
- jaredmurdoch
- Jul 8
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 30
A major hospital expansion project has officially opened in Auckland, following three years of construction on one of the city's most constrained urban sites.
The new Gilgit Wing at Allevia Hospital Epsom – formerly Mercy Hospital – was delivered by Leighs Construction in partnership with RCP, BBD, NDY, Structures Design, Crossfire and Klein Architects. The development adds ten new operating theatres, a 17-bed post-anaesthesia care unit, 12 intensive and high-dependency care beds, and a 24-bed ward to New Zealand’s largest private hospital.
Built beneath volcanic landmark, Maungawhau / Mt Eden, the project unfolded alongside a fully operational hospital. Leighs North Island Operations Manager Tony Emery said the live environment added significant complexity.
“This was a live hospital, every day of the build,” Emery said. “That meant noise, dust, safety, and even vibration had to be controlled to the highest standards – including understanding Infection Prevention Control requirements. Our team understood the responsibility—and rose to it.”
At its peak, the site had more than 200 workers operating within metres of a functioning MRI suite, cath lab suites, and other active clinical procedure rooms. Despite the proximity, patient care continued uninterrupted with no negative impacts to clinical safety.
Project Director Craig Younger and Service Manager Tom Coats said the scale and coordination required were unmatched.
“This wasn’t just about building walls and roofs—it was about integrating kilometres of pipework, data cabling, ducting, and essential services into a live facility while keeping timelines tight and quality uncompromised,” Coats said. “The level of coordination between consultants, architects, subcontractors, and suppliers was unlike anything I’ve led before.”
Technology also played a major role behind the scenes. Leighs’ in-house BIM and design team used tools like Revit, Revizto, and Cupix to bring clarity, speed, and precision to every stage of the build. “Healthcare projects demand accuracy—there’s no room for trial and error,” says Saba Hamidi, BIM Coordinator. “BIM was our cure for complexity. It gave us the insight and coordination we needed to deliver confidently in a high-stakes environment.” By connecting everyone—from architects to subcontractors—on a shared platform, the team reduced risk, avoided rework, and ensured what was planned was exactly what got built.
Early contractor involvement and a co-located project team helped create a culture of trust and collaboration. The team used building information modelling (BIM), adaptive staging, and carefully sequenced construction to meet strict noise and vibration limits and navigate the site’s narrow access and NZTA constraints.
Leighs Founder and Chair Anthony Leighs said the project embodied the company’s purpose: building important social infrastructure for New Zealand.
“This build was about people—delivering excellence so that clinicians can focus on patients. It demanded collaboration at every level. From the hospital executives to the electricians, everyone was solution-focused.”
Inside the hospital, specialist health technology suppliers including Dräger and Karl Storz worked alongside Leighs to deliver state-of-the-art hybrid theatres with integrated imaging systems.
Dani Lake, Senior Representative at Allevia, said the project was a standout for its professionalism and open collaboration between subject matter experts ranging across the clinical and construction sectors.
“Leighs understood our operational requirements and worked with us in creating a high trust environment where solutions could be derived on the ground in real time in response to challenges that arose on site. The finished facility is not only world class—it’s built to function with minimal overhead costs for its lifecycle of use.”
Allevia Health, formerly Healthcare Holdings, is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest private healthcare groups. The Gilgit Wing adds to its Epsom site and supports a broader investment programme in facilities and services across New Zealand.
