The helicopter flight path above a major Melbourne hospital was changed before the Victorian government scrapped its plans to build a medical precinct in the city's inner north. / (min cost $ 0 ) or signup to continue reading The Arden medical precinct was abandoned in the May 7 state budget after technical work showed electromagnetic interference from nearby trains could wreak havoc on sensitive medical equipment. The government has decided to instead redevelop the Royal Melbourne and Women's hospital sites at Parkville to deliver the same number of extra beds.
Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas revealed to a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday that a flight path was moved in January and would be able to accommodate the taller expansion of both hospitals. "When the Arden project was first announced in 2022, we were restricted in the number of storeys that we were able to build on the Parkville site to 15," she told the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. "But as works continued on the delivery of this project, there have been changes that were made to the flight path from the Royal Children's Hospital.
"That flight path has been changed and, as a consequence of that, we're now able to build up to 22 storeys." Hospitals require a flight path above to allow helicopters to land for emergency transportation of patients. A material handling building on Flemington Road will be demolished to make way for a new Royal Melbourne Hospital tower.
Ms Thomas said the expansion of the.
