They recently organised and facilitated a variety of site visits and tours for local students and potential health professionals.

Following the success of the March Community Open Day, Brookfield Multiplex SERH site manager Gary Campbell recently gave 12 building technology students from the industrial arts faculty at Bega High School a guided tour of the live construction site, closely followed up with a similar tour for some Year 12 students from Eden High School.

“It is important for students to understand how a construction site operates and how a building takes shape,” Mr Campbell said.

“The opportunity to actually see and experience a site first-hand is something these students will not forget and something that we hope will inspire them to continue their studies in the field.”

With a slightly different focus, 30 aspiring student doctors and nurses from the Australian National University were also recently shown around the site by Bega Valley Health Service project change manager Kerry Abramowski, to demonstrate what is involved in a new build, the end result and ultimately see where they could work in the future.

“The students were clearly impressed with the new facility and the opportunity to see it first-hand will definitely remain in the back of their minds when they are considering future study and work options,” Ms Abramowski said.

“It was also interesting for them to have a tour of the current hospital the day before viewing the new one, making it easier for them to visualise the potential uplift in service levels between the two.”

The new South East Regional Hospital is the biggest infrastructure project to be undertaken in the Bega Valley Shire and will offer extensive community and ambulatory services, community mental health, drug and alcohol services, an emergency department, combined Integrated Critical Care Unit, regional orthopaedic services and expanded surgical, maternity and paediatrics.

With completion expected in early 2016, the SERH is progressing well through construction with 62 per cent of the 15,000 linear metres of pipe installed, 58 per cent of the 550 windows in place and 62 per cent of the 40,000 metres squared of internal painting completed.

Over 14,000 cubic metres of concrete have been poured to provide the foundation and structure to the building, 1050 tonnes of reinforcing steel have been used and 500km of electrical cabling installed.

BROOKFIELD Multiplex was recognised with the Host Innovation Award for its work on the South East Regional Hospital project at the recent HVTC Excellence Awards.

After winning the contract for the Bega hospital construction, Brookfield Multiplex launched into the project with a vision to provide a unique and diverse skills development opportunity for Indigenous trainees.

The innovative program involved all the sub-contractors on the project committing to support the trainees with related on the job work experience, which would seek to build on the cohesive work culture.

To date, the SERH construction has enabled more than 20 Indigenous trainees to complete a Certificate II in Construction Pathways.

The program began in June 2014 with the trainees due to complete at the end of September this year.

Brookfield Multiplex is currently working towards some additional training to support the Indigenous trainees in finding ongoing employment at the conclusion of the project.

The awards ceremony was held in Newcastle to showcase the exceptional achievements of apprentices, trainees and host businesses.

Winners in the 12 award categories were selected from finalists across HVTC’s 10 regional branches located throughout NSW.