With major redevelopment plans for the theatre and DSU areas due to begin in 2021 HACSU proposed a working group to report back to staff and give them input into the changes and minimise disruption.
 
Two meetings have been held to set the terms of reference, configuration of the work group and ongoing agenda items, and the first full group meeting is 1 February with meetings on the first Monday of each month.
 
Blueprint plans appear to be finalised and will be going out for tender in May 2021, with construction hopefully starting in August and, while timelines have been set, there isn’t a firm plan of how things will look through the construction stages. In regards to this, there appear to be two clear options to be considered, and any member feedback on these options would be appreciated.

1. Redevelop in two stages. This would allow the area to continue operating at a restricted capacity, but would mean a redevelopment timeline of around 24 months.
2. Complete in one stage. With this option it seems there’ll be no choice but to cease use of the area and redeploy staff for the construction period, with a predicted 18 month turnaround.

The working group meeting agenda will vary but the core items throughout the life of the group are:

• Work plans, strategies and updates.
• Activity planning at a local and state level to ensure delivery of services.
• Models of care.
• Short and long term staff planning. Acorn is likely to be used as a base for benchmarking.
• Professional development requirements.
• Workplace health and safety.
• Risk and risk assessments.

Before our next meeting in February we’d love to hear staff preferences for whether the redevelopment should be done in one or two stages so we can push members’ preferred position to minimise disruption to their working life through the redevelopment period.

We look forward to hearing from members.