Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD) has provided the first look at the proposed Dubbo Residential Rehabilitation Centre, releasing an artist impression of the facility's initial concept design ahead of the latest round of community consultation activity this week.
After receiving valuable feedback from the community during a range of consultation activities in March, the District will hold a pop-up design exhibition and several guided community site walks this week, to provide more insight into the design thinking and process.
WNSWLHD Chief Executive Mark Spittal said the project's design team, headed by Fulton Trotter Architects, has worked hard to apply the feedback received from the community and ensure the clinical, environmental and cultural needs of the facility are met in its design.
"This is the next step for us to bring this important development to fruition and provide much-needed, critical health infrastructure for people in Western NSW who want to address their substance dependency, and safely integrate back into the community," Mr Spittal said.
"Input and feedback from extensive consultation has been incredibly important to our planning and design phase, not just from the Dubbo community, but also from health professionals and the Aboriginal community.
"It has ensured our design team has been able to understand and address any concerns people may have had, in particular to ensure the design of the centre fits the existing streetscape, provides privacy and is culturally safe and appropriate.
"It's important to remember the design of the centre is not complete, but the current plan reflects an understanding of community feedback, along with Connecting with Country design principles, therapeutic requirements and local design and landscape principles.
"We are excited to show the community how the design for the centre has progressed and invite anyone who is interested to attend this week's consultation activities to learn more about the design and architectural plans and ask any questions they may have."
Mr Spittal said computer generated images and architectural plans will be used to show how the proposed centre may look at this week's consultation events. At the guided site tours, the footprint of the centre will also be marked out, to provide insight into where and how it will be located.
"Fulton Trotter Architects and our project team will be on hand to outline and explain the designs and plans, and people will have the opportunity to speak directly to our design team to learn more about how the design will meet future residents' needs," Mr Spittal said.
The pop-up design exhibition will be held at Dubbo Square Shopping Centre on Thursday 20 June from 10am to 2pm, and five guided community site tours will be held from 7.30am onward on Friday 21 June at Lot 311 and Lot 312, Spears Drive.
The guided community site tours will last one hour. The first, from 7.30am to 8.30am, will be for neighbouring residents, while all interested community members are welcome at the remaining four site tours - from 10.30am to 11.30am, 12.30pm to 1.30pm, 2.30pm to 3.30pm and 4pm to 5pm.
For more information about attending any of this week's consultation activities, or to find out more about the Dubbo Residential Rehabilitation Centre Project, visit the Urban Talk website: https://www.urbantalk.com.au/projects/dubbo-aod/
