Alphington Mental Health Hospital Plan Moves Ahead

Private mental health provider Avive Health will convert a former aged care home in Melbourne’s inner north into a specialist mental health hospital as construction accelerates on the $900-million Melton Hospital in the city’s growing west. The Avive Clinic Melbourne at 9-11 Heidelberg Road, Alphington is 6.5km from the Melbourne CBD. Now under way is an initial $15-million upgrade of the former aged care property to deliver 30 specialist care beds as stage one of the total $45-million project. The project won planning approval from the Yarra City Council in 2023 after a contested application that drew close to 200 objections, primarily from families at the nearby Alphington Grammar School. Stage one will include 30 private single-patient rooms with ensuites, four group therapy rooms, six consulting rooms and two transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) suites for treatment-resistant depression. Admissions are expected from mid-2026. Further stages are planned to expand bed capacity and upgrade fitness facilities, which Avive said was central to its rehabilitation model. Salutogenic design principles, which prioritise environmental features that actively support wellbeing, underpin the clinic’s spatial approach, Avive said. Avive Health co-founder and co-chief executive Greg Procter said the group treated the physical environment as a clinical tool. “We are challenging the traditional mental health ward model, as we have seen first-hand that purpose-built environments combined with integrated care can support a patient’s recovery,” he said. ▲ Avive’s Mount Eliza clinic incorporates landscaped outdoor areas as part of its salutogenic design approach. Procter said demand for inpatient mental health care had outpaced available capacity. “Mental health demand has increased significantly, and the system has not kept pace, resulting in access delays and pressure across the system ultimately meaning people are not able to access the support they need,” Procter said. “Our new facility directly addresses this crucial challenge, which is particularly acute in Melbourne.” Bringing Avive’s Victorian inpatient capacity to 120 beds across two hospitals, including the existing 60-bed Mornington Peninsula clinic, the Alphington facility would support 2000 admissions annually across metropolitan Melbourne and surrounding regions. Works begins on all-electric Melton Hospital In Melbourne’s west, the first concrete slabs have been poured at the Melton Hospital site and five of six tower cranes are now in place. The 68,000sq m hospital site on Ferris Road, Cobblebank is more than three times the size of the MCG. The $900-million facility will comprise 274 beds and treat up to 130,000 patients annually. ▲ Now under way: A rendering of the new Melton Hospital west of Melbourne. Cobblebank is in a corridor forecast to grow from 864,000 residents in 2021 to around 1.47 million by 2046, accounting for 21 per cent of Victoria’s population growth. Designed to be Victoria’s first all-electric hospital , the project will operate on carbon-neutral power from day one. A 24-hour emergency department is expected to handle more than 60,000 patients a year, serving communities including Melton, Caroline Springs, Rockbank, Bacchus Marsh and Gisborne. Premier Jacinta Allan said the project would bring care closer to western Melbourne families. “It’s a construction site now, but in a few years, families will be accessing care here,” she said. More than 273,000 hours have been worked on site to date, and major construction is on track for completion in 2029.

Alphington Mental Health Hospital Plan Moves Ahead

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