Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre atrium unveiled

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA – The Victorian Minister for Health, the Honourable Jill Hennessy MP, has officially unveiled the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre’s (VCCC) stunning 13-storey atrium.

Minister Hennessey visited the VCCC on Sunday 26 July to mark the facility’s involvement in this year’s Open House Melbourne program and kick off a series of pre-booked public hard hat tours facilitated by Plenary Health and its client, the Department of Health & Human Services.

More than 300 members of the public were given a sneak peek at the $1 billion facility for cancer research, treatment and care in Parkville, which is still under construction and set to open in mid-2016. 

The atrium is a key feature of Plenary Health’s design for the VCCC – acting as the centre piece of a simple and functional wayfinding strategy.

As well as a sense of light, air and space, the atrium will help to facilitate movement around the building. Importantly, it also facilitates for patients and visitors a visual connection to researchers working on the upper floors as they circulate around the atrium.

“The atrium is quite literally the heart of the VCCC,” said Plenary Health General Manager, David Keenan. “It enables users to maintain a constant visual connection with the outside and provides a sense of hope and scale unusual within a medical environment.”

At the top of the atrium is a 546 square metre glazed skylight, made up of 158 individually placed panels.

A pedestrian bridge spanning the atrium at level 7 also doubles as a gathering space outside of the facility’s lecture theatre that will help to facilitate training for the next generation of cancer specialists, clinicians, researchers and educators in Australia and beyond.

When it opens in mid-2016 the VCCC will become the new home for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and incorporate additional capacity for Melbourne Health and the University of Melbourne – providing clinical, research and educational facilities for all building partners.

The Victorian Government, through the Department of Health & Human Services, has contracted Plenary Health to design, build, finance and maintain the VCCC under a Public Private Partnership delivery model.

Executive Director, Communications
+61 3 8888 7754
+61 418 530 806
chris.whitefield@plenary.com