Construction on Adelaide’s high-tech medical and research facility, the first proton therapy centre in the southern hemisphere, will kick off next month.
Development of the Australian Bragg centre, also known as ‘SAHMRI 2', marks the first and only proton therapy cancer treatment facility in Australia.
Lendlease was appointed by Adelaide developer Commercial & General as the builder, with the project expected to generate up to 1000 construction jobs over the next three years.
The $500 million facility is expected to treat its first patients approximately 18 months following the project’s finish, which is pegged for completion in late 2023.
It's estimated that between 600-700 patients could be treated at the facility each year—with around half of these expected to be children and young adults.
The centre’s development means patients will no longer need to travel overseas to access proton therapy.
Proton therapy is a form of radiation treatment used to treat certain tumours through custom radiotherapy treatments.
The proton beam is tailored to target cancer cells, which minimises the radiation dose to healthy tissues surrounding the tumour.
Once finished, patients around Australia are expected to be referred to the centre for treatment, it’s also estimated that 25 per cent of patients will be full fee paying from overseas countries in the southern hemisphere.
Designed by Woods Bagot, the Australian Bragg Centre has a total of 32,000sq m across 15 levels, which includes three levels below ground and 11 levels of lab space, along with 10 clinical trial rooms.
The centre, which had previously been estimated to cost $273 million, forms part of Adelaide’s medical precinct located in the north-west corner of the CBD.
The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) is the state’s leading independent medical research institute.
