Building kidzspace: Weldone puts project in the frame

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Friday 9 December 2016

Written by Rod

Work on our new $2.6 million kidzspace centre at Kangaroo Flat is underway. In this new blog we meet the Bendigo builders and sub-contractors using their expertise to make our dream a reality.

THE new kidzspace Bendigo child health and wellbeing facility has really started to take shape since the Weldone Solutions team arrives on site this month.

Weldone is providing the structural steel that forms the skeleton of the building and is erecting the main framework in Helm Street, Kangaroo Flat, over the course of about 10 days.

Director Matt McNamara said kidzspace Bendigo was a large-scale project for his company, with around 22 tonnes of steel required to complete the job.

As a father of two primary-age children himself, Matt appreciates the importance of the landmark Bendigo Community Health Services centre, which will bring together specialist child health and wellbeing services under the one roof.

It aims to improve the long-term outcomes for children in Bendigo by offering a multitude of easy-to-access early intervention and support programs.

“It’s a good thing that we can be part of something that is going to change the way things are done for local children in the future,” Matt says.

Weldone has been operating in Bendigo since 2011 and employs seven people, providing fabrication and welding services to both domestic and commercial builders.

As well as structural steel, the company also specialises in sheds, stairs, handrails and balustrades.

Other major projects have included works for the new Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-operative centre in Prouses Road, SuniTAFE in Swan Hill, and an education building for the St Anthony monastery in Heathcote. They have also contributed to St Liborius Primary in Eaglehawk, St Joseph’s Primary in Rochester and Charlton, as many residential projects.

The $2.6 million kidzspace Bendigo centre is scheduled to open early in 2017.

Building kidzspace: Earthmovers in for the long haul

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Friday 9 December 2016

Written by Rod

Work on our new $2.6 million kidzspace centre at Kangaroo Flat is underway. In this new blog we meet the Bendigo builders and sub-contractors using their expertise to make our dream a reality.

WHEN it comes to building the new innovative kidzspace Bendigo health and wellbeing centre, one local sub-contractor will be among the construction action from go to whoa.

“We were one of the first on site and will be among the last to leave,” says Bendigo Plant Hire director Adam Riley.

The earthmoving and equipment company is playing a big role in building a brighter future for local children, taking care of several steps throughout the six-month, $2.6 million project.

“We started off with the demolition works on site, removing trees and a shed, then went on to the site cut,” says Adam, explaining his role mostly covers the civil components of the job, as well as providing heavy machinery.

“We imported 300 cubic metres of clay from Maiden Gully to build the pad, then dug the footings through it.”

After a short break to allow other work to be completed, Bendigo Plant Hire also undertook storm water excavation, and underground hydraulic services.

They will return again towards the end of the build to construct the facility’s car park and driveway.

Bendigo Community Health Services is excited about the progress of its kidzspace centre, the first of its kind in regional Australia.

When opened in late 2016, it will provide a central hub for BCHS children’s and family services and aims to improve the health, education and overall life outcomes for local at-risk youngsters.

“I am well aware of the background to this project and I think it is fantastic,” says Adam of the plan to offer health practitioner and support services, as well as various other child-friendly programs, from the facility.

“Hopefully it will help streamline the processes there, by having everything under the one roof.

“And that will go a long way to making these services more accessible to families.”

Formerly known as KB Contractors, Bendigo Plant Hire is a family-run business started in 1984 by Adam’s father, Bill Riley. It has eight employees and is based in Myers Flat.

BCHS to tackle cycles of disadvantage in Bendigo

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Friday 9 December 2016

Written by Rod

Bendigo Community Health Services has announced new strategic directions designed to reduce health inequity and break cycles of disadvantage in Bendigo.

BCHS chairperson Geoff Bowyer and CEO Kim Sykes outlined a new vision, mission, values and strategic directions for the organisation to a gathering of community, business and local government leaders at The Capital in June.

A new $2.6 million kidzspace centre being built at Kangaroo Flat will provide a key asset in the organisation's plans to put very early intervention at the forefront of programs and services.

"If we get this right, we will make a fundamental change in this city," Ms Sykes said.

"We will remain a service available to all ages but the evidence clearly shows we must have a focus on very early years if we are to change the unacceptable health and wellbeing consequences that too often come with a low income.

"Our organisation strongly believes that it's no longer acceptable to think health inequity is okay. It's not."

Ms Sykes said the new directions built on a lot of good work done by BCHS staff through a 40 year history and will be strengthened by valuable collaborations with like-minded organisations.

A SEIFA graph displayed at the launch clearly outlined the need for change in Bendigo with a large number of areas falling below the average on the Australian Bureau of Statistics social disadvantage index.

Mr Bowyer told the launch the board had endorsed the new vision, mission and values developed with considerable staff input.

Vision: Better health and wellbeing across generations.

Mission: Working hand in hand with our community to achieve healthier lives.

Values

Respect: We build respectful relationships through trust, empathy and collaboration.

Inclusive: We recognise and promote accessible, safe and holistic health care as a basic human right.

Integrity: We are authentic and accountable and we honour our obligations.

Innovation: Through continuous learning, we ensure an agile, responsive and sustainable voice.

He said the new strategic directions would guide the organisation through the next three years on a path to achieving real change for the community.

Mr Bowyer said the new strategic directions would include four separate areas for the organisation: 

Programs for equity

Commitment to achieving equitable health and wellbeing.

• Review existing programs to ensure they are achieving equitable health and social outcomes.
• Use evidence to establish service models and place-based responses either alone or in collaboration with others.
• Strengthen our focus on prevention through expanding our early years and family services programs.
• Align our workforce capability and capacity to our programs.

Consumer and community-centred organisation

Understand and respond to community needs and consumers’ lived experience

• Increase community awareness of BCHS so that the community knows what we offer and how to access it.
• Establish and use systems to capture and respond to what we hear from consumers and the community.
• Drive consumer-centred practice across all parts of the organisation.
• Successfully transition to consumer-led and contestable funding arrangements, including establishing new business models which are consistent with our mission and support organisational sustainability.
• Look for opportunities to increase the level of health literacy of our community so people are better able to be active in the management of their own health and wellbeing.

Quality, safety and consumer experiences

Deliver the best consumer experience that is of consistent quality, safe and evidence-based

• Build and use an outcomes framework to improve performance and to report to our community (through Community Governance Committee) on the outcomes we are achieving.
• Strengthen clinical governance and continuously improve quality and safety culture.
• All programs will have a strong practice framework with staff supported to deliver identified outcomes.

Sustainability

Sustainable for purpose organisation

• Develop business models which support out mission and ensure organisational sustainability.
• Strengthen financial planning and business systems.
• Develop and implement an ICT strategy.
• Undertake required infrastructure planning.
• Review and enhance board governance.

Kidzspace wish list - can you help us invest in Bendigo's future?

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Friday 9 December 2016

Written by Rod

Bendigo Community Health Services is building a new $2.6 million kidzspace centre at our Helm Street site in Kangaroo Flat.

The project is due for completion in December this year.

Investing in Bendigo’s future... kidzspace will bring all our children and family support services together under a model that is a first for regional Australia.

kidzspace is being designed to challenge the traditional life paths for those born into disadvantage and allow children of all ages to reach their full potential.

Together we can make change!

A huge thank you to the Victorian government for funding the $2.6 million kidzspace build.

We are already seeing increased demand for our family and children’s services, so we need community  support to purchase extra fittings and outdoor  features such as a playground and landscaping.

How you can help kidzspace...

Can you help with any of the items on our  kidzspace Bendigo wish list below?

Please contact Bendigo Community Health Services executive director Callum Wright on 5434 4329 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. today.

Kitchen appliances

Our new community kitchen will need  big and small items such as a commercial rangehood, gas hotplates, electric oven, microwaves, double-door glass fridges, plates, bowls, utensils, cups, glasses, tea towels and smaller  appliances such as a coffee machine, kettles and toasters. These will allow us to make the community kitchen a space for people to learn to cook and share food. 

Water tanks

Water tanks in our community garden will allow BCHS to host programs to encourage the broader community to grow healthy food. The food can then be prepared in the adjoining kidzspace community kitchen as part of our healthy cooking and eating programs. The community garden will be designed to help organisations supporting children with disabilities.

Furniture of all shapes and sizes

Bean bags, ottomans, lounge chairs, couches, cushions, artificial plants, bar fridge, coffee tables, kitchen table and chairs, modular benches, stackable tables, plastic chairs, cupboards, whiteboards and work desks for children and offices.

Shed and plants

A new garden shed will be used to store tools related to the kidzspace community garden. The shed will provide the community with access to everything they need to use the space after-hours and on weekends while the plants will give the garden a start.

Playground

The feedback from children about what they would like to see in the kidzspace design was clear ... A PLAYGROUND! With that in mind, we’d like to provide the biggest and best playground we can afford. Can you help us out?

Outdoor seating

We’d like to place some seating in the main courtyard for a quiet space. 

Flatscreen TV

We need 140cm or above flat screen televisions for the community areas.  These will be dynamic noticeboards for the community, children and families. These are a key tool in ensuring that all children and families are aware of all the services and programs available.

Graffiti artist

We are looking for a graffiti artist to paint a special wall at kidzspace.

Cash donation

Maybe you would prefer to provide a cash donation to allow us to purchase any of the items listed above or to help with kidzspace into the future.

Building kidzspace: Project design in good hands

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Friday 9 December 2016

Written by Rod

Work on our new $2.6 million kidzspace centre at Kangaroo Flat is underway. In this new blog we meet the Bendigo builders and sub-contractors using their expertise to make our dream a reality.

FLEXIBILITY, safety and accessibility were key considerations in designing the landmark Kidzspace children’s and family services centre that is under construction in Kangaroo Flat.

CBA Building Designers accepted the brief to create a state-of-the-art community-focused building that was open, inviting and ever-changing, with spaces that could evolve with the needs of the public and user groups.

Shane DeAraugo and Simon Bedson took about eight months to come up with final plans for the Bendigo Community Health Services facility, which is due to be completed in October.

It will house a range of health and allied services aimed at improving the long-term outcomes for vulnerable local families, as well as hosting various community activities for children.

Kidzspace in Helm Street will be the first centre of its kind in regional Australia and the designers say they are pleased to be involved in such a revolutionary project.

“It’s a way of giving back and supporting the growth and development of our community, in particular our kids,” Shane and Simon agree.

“Providing safe and inviting environments is important.”

CBA Building Designers provided a total master plan for the site moving into the future, instead of simply creating a single building on a parcel of land.

But the job was not without its challenges.

“Every public building has its design issues, restrictions or limitations and this site and project was no different.

“Key points included budget and time constraints, ageing of the existing building stock, limited and sub-compliant services, a limited open site area with restricted access, and an existing public building that must remain open during construction works.

“The project was purpose designed to flow with the existing building stock while also working with all future stages to the site and master plan.

“The construction method was also critical to provide minimal disruption to the site and the day-to-day workings of the operations within.

“As a result, a portal frame design evolved which gave us the opportunity to provide exciting spaces and visual statements, to provide the building with its own identity and presence.”

CBA Building Designers has undertaken many other community and public projects for organisations including St Luke’s, headspace, BCHS, Doxa School, the Catholic Education Office and Interchange Loddon Mallee Region.

Director Shane DeAraugo has also taken part in an executive sleep-out to promote awareness of homelessness.

“One of our principles in business is “family first”: whether it’s committing to family holidays or caring for an ill child, that will always be first, and our community involvement and activities is just a natural extension of that.”

Building kidzspace: Bolands take care of ceilings and walls

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Friday 9 December 2016

Written by Rod

Work on our new $2.6 million kidzspace centre at Kangaroo Flat is underway. In this new blog we meet the Bendigo builders and sub-contractors using their expertise to make our dream a reality.

About 2500 square metres of plasterboard will be used inside the new kidzspace Bendigo facility being built in Kangaroo Flat to house a range of crucial children’s and family services and programs.

And the job of hanging it, along with installing insulation throughout the pioneering Bendigo Community Health Services building, rests with the team from Bolands Plaster Service.

Director Peter Boland said the company would use the 10mm plasterboard to create suspended ceilings and interior walls in the many different areas of the multi-disciplinary complex that is slowly taking shape in Helm Street.

Kidzspace will be the first centre of its kind in regional Australia, bringing clinical, counselling, education, social support and early intervention services for vulnerable families together under the one roof.

By working collaboratively with parents and children from the earliest point of referral, BCHS hopes to invoke generational change and improve their long-term health and wellbeing outcomes.

Bolands Plaster will help shape the individual rooms and spaces inside kidzspace Bendigo.

As well as ceilings, walls, waterproof plasterboard in wet areas, beading and cornices, the company is also responsible for putting insulation inside the ceiling space and exterior and interior wall cavities.

The family business has operated in Bendigo for 50 years, with Peter taking over from his father about a decade ago. It employs about 15 plasterers and office staff.

Bolands Plaster is one of about a dozen local sub-contractors involved in the Kidzspace Bendigo project, which is being overseen by Walsh and O’Meara Builders.

Building kidzspace: Bendigo surveyors make sure there are no Building Issues with project

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Friday 9 December 2016

Written by Rod

Work on our new $2.6 million kidzspace centre at Kangaroo Flat is underway. In this new blog we meet the Bendigo builders and sub-contractors using their expertise to make our dream a reality.

BEFORE first sod of soil was even turned on the Bendigo Community Health Services kidzspace children’s health and wellbeing centre, a mountain of work had already been done.

With strict regulations governing each step of the process, it was up to surveying company Building Issues to ensure the initial design of the facility met the code requirements.

“We have the overall role as certifier,” says project building surveyor Daniel Spence.

“In the pre-permit phase, we acted as a consultant working through each design discipline to guide the design towards compliance with the relevant codes and controls, then as a private building surveyor we were able to issue the building permit to allow works to commence.”

But the firm’s involvement doesn’t end there.

During the six months of construction, Building Issues will conduct up to 10 inspections on foundations/excavations, footings and framework, as well as signing off on the final product and issuing an occupancy permit.

Daniel says this covers everything from emergency exits, lighting and signs, fire safety and protection systems, disability access and general amenities throughout the building.

“So far, it has been a fairly smooth process for a project of its size, but when you have a consortium of good designers, it makes things easier,” he says.

The $2.6 million kidzspace Bendigo centre will provide a range of centralised children’s and family services at the Helm Street site in Kangaroo Flat.

It is part a new approach by BCHS to improving the health and wellbeing of the region’s at-risk families by offering early intervention and easily accessible programs.

Building Issues has extensive experience in health sector construction, having been involved in hospital redevelopments in Kerang, Boort and Numurkah as well as the development of a multi-storey medical centre in Mollison Street, Bendigo.

It has also consulted on education facilities, prison redevelopments and commercial and residential complexes.

Established in 1999, it has 13 experienced staff across offices in Bendigo, Echuca and Shepparton.

Daniel says kidzspace Bendigo is an interesting project to be involved in.

“It is very satisfying to know that this will make a difference to future generations of children and we are playing our small part in that.”

Building kidzspace: Tuddenhams have floors covered

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Friday 9 December 2016

Written by Rod

Work on our new $2.6 million kidzspace centre at Kangaroo Flat is underway. In this new blog we meet the Bendigo builders and sub-contractors using their expertise to make our dream a reality.

 WHEN children and families walk into the new Kidzspace centre in Kangaroo Flat, they will step straight onto the handiwork of Tuddenhams Flooring Centre.

The local business has been sub-contracted to supply floor coverings for the Bendigo Community Health Services facility that aims to build a brighter future for youngsters across the region.

Tuddenhams will lay about 550 square metres of carpet tiles and 160 lineal metres of vinyl – three different designs of each - throughout the Helm Street building, as well as vinyl planks and entrance mats.

“It’s quite a big project for us,” says administration officer Teresa Hammer.

“But this is a great project for Bendigo and for all the families in the area that will use the centre.”

Kidzspace is a multi-million-dollar building that will house BCHS children’s and family services programs, as well as a range of other community activities.

It is the first of its kind in regional Australia and will make vital services for families in need easily accessible, based on the premise that any child can reach their full potential if supported to do so.

The facility is due to be completed in November.

Tuddenhams Flooring Centre is owned by Peter Taylor and Christine Thorne and has operated from its Contempo Court site for the past seven years. 

Building kidzspace: Bert McIvor and team to give our project 'the great Australian paint'

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Friday 9 December 2016

Written by Rod

Work on our new $2.6 million kidzspace centre at Kangaroo Flat is underway. In this new blog we meet the Bendigo builders and sub-contractors using their expertise to make our dream a reality.

PAINTER Bert McIvor has been active in the Bendigo community for decades.

A former footballer for Eaglehawk and the Bendigo interleague squad, Bert was on the BFNL board, still serves on the Hall of Fame selection panel and is one of the Hawks’ club sponsors.

He has also helped raise money for the Breast Cancer Network by waiting on guests at annual Girls Night In events, hosted at home by wife Jacinta and a large group of her friends, for nine years.

This community-minded spirit is well reflected in his business, Bert McIvor Painting, which has been sub-contracted for work on several important building projects in Central Victoria.

The latest is kidzspace Bendigo – a $2.6 million children’s health and wellbeing centre being constructed in Helm Street Kangaroo Flat.

The facility is part of a new approach to Bendigo Community Health Services children’s and family programs, creating a specialist hub that aims to improve the long-term outcomes of youngsters throughout the region by providing early intervention, education and clinical services.

“It is certainly satisfying, being involved in the local Bendigo community and projects like this,” says Bert.

“We also did some work on the headspace (youth mental health service) building in Mundy Street, which is along similar community lines, and are doing Marist College at the moment.”

Bert and his team of up to eight painters and apprentices will apply about 300 litres of Australian-made Haymes Paint to the interior and exterior of the kidzspace building.

The business has operated in Bendigo for 20 years, with Bert proud to say all his staff started off as apprentices. Some are still with him after 12 years.

“We like to bring our apprentices through,” he says. “We don’t advertise – we get our work through recommendation, which is a good way to be.”

Building kidzspace: Tucks Windows provides doorway to our exciting project

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Friday 9 December 2016

Written by Rod

Work on our new $2.6 million kidzspace centre at Kangaroo Flat is underway. In this new blog we meet the Bendigo builders and sub-contractors turning our dream into reality.

THE job of installing windows and doors in Bendigo Community Health Services’ new multi-million-dollar kidzspace facility could be considered one of special significance.

After all, the revolutionary children’s and family services centre will offer many windows of opportunity to youngsters across the region when it opens its doors later this year.

Tucks Windows has been given the task of fabricating and fitting the multitude of custom-made aluminium shop-front windows and doors to the building in Helm St, Kangaroo Flat.

Managing director Mark Daley says it is definitely a good feeling to know the firm is working on a project that aims to create a better future for families in Bendigo and beyond.

Kidzspace will be a one-stop-shop for a wide range of BCHS programs aimed at children and families, as well as some community activities.

Its goal is to make services readily available for those who need them most, in light of studies showing a child’s health, wellbeing and development can be shaped in early childhood.

Tucks must wait for the full framework of the building to be erected before they can move in to measure up for what Mark says is a “substantial” project.

There is a turnaround of about three weeks for the windows and doors to be manufactured at the firm’s factory in Sandhurst Rd, then transported on site, installed and glazed.

Tucks is one of more than a dozen Bendigo sub-contractors contributing to the project, which is due to be completed in October.

The company has operated locally for 42 years and employs 16 people across manufacturing, installation and sales.

They are currently involved in a major refurbishment at Girton Grammar, and have worked on the Kangaroo Flat Sports Centre, Yamaha in Bridge St, St Luke’s Bendigo and the Old Post Office Gallery.