Health Spaces OUR CONTACTS Raj Senanayake | 0421 538 229 | rsenanayake@bcarchitects.com.au Joel Harbour | 03 9090 2651 | jharbour@bcarchitects.com.au
www.bcarchitects.com.au
Health Spaces
Contents
Our studio
03
Our people
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Spaces we’ve created
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the spaces and places where we work, and pay our respects to Elders past and present. We honour the design ingenuity of First Peoples over millennia, their unique contribution to our understanding of place, and care for the Country on which we create.
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Our studio
39 years young. City and regionally based.
Our collaborative approach.
We’re Baldasso Cortese, a 45-strong architecture, interior design and master planning practice based in Naarm, Melbourne and Djiling, Geelong.
Our collaborative team focuses on designing and delivering projects with community at the heart.
Founded by Anthony Baldasso and Steven Cortese, our practice is well known for the depth and diversity of our portfolio. We have completed master plans and built projects across aged care, child care, colleges, community centres, health centres, schools, and social housing. We are also experts in commercial and retail rollout projects.
We work at the intersection of people, place, and wellbeing. Each project is thoughtfully designed with the client’s needs and surroundings at the forefront. We create spaces that connect people … the practical, emotional and social spaces between us.
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Health Spaces
Images of our Geelong and Melbourne studios. Photography | Hilary Walker
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Our people
Our people make great spaces.
Our diverse workplace.
Our strength as a design and delivery partner comes from our talented, committed team.
We encourage individual voices, and a workplace culture that champions equity, diversity and inclusion.
We bring together diverse backgrounds, perspectives and experiences across urban and regional contexts.
This enables true design innovation, underpinned by our shared vision and values.
This shared understanding helps us listen closely, connect with our clients and work collaboratively to deliver successful project outcomes.
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Health Spaces
Meet our Health sector leaders
RAJ SENANAYAKE Principal | Melbourne Registered Architect, Victoria With over 25 years of experience in leading complex healthcare, aged care, community, and institutional projects, Raj offers strategic leadership across all project phases, from feasibility and clinical briefing to procurement and delivery. At BLP, he held leadership roles on major Victorian health projects, including Northern Private Hospital, St Vincent’s Private Hospital, and the New Footscray Hospital. Other notable projects in Raj’s portfolio include the St Vincent’s Private Hospital Fitzroy Redevelopment ($180M), Avenue Hospital Theatre Expansion ($20M), Alfred Hospital Emergency and Trauma Centre Redevelopment ($20M), and John Fawkner Private Hospital Redevelopment ($80M). As Project Director, Raj oversees project governance, client leadership, strategic design direction, and coordination with multidisciplinary consultants throughout the project lifecycle.
JOEL HARBOUR Principal | Geelong Registered Architect, Victoria Based in our Geelong office, Joel manages all project phases, including master planning, schematic design, detailed documentation, contract administration, and delivery. He has significant expertise in live healthcare operational environments, including acute health, mental health, aged care, and integrated rural health facilities. In these settings, he manages staging, regulatory compliance, and stakeholder coordination. Joel leads submissions, reports, and design reviews within government frameworks, drawing on his strong knowledge of statutory obligations and design standards. As Project Lead, Joel is recognised for his practical mindset and thorough research into construction methods, developing solutions that balance innovation, buildability, durability, and cost-effectiveness. Clients appreciate his ability to listen, address concerns clearly, and confidently guide projects through complex documentation and delivery. 6
Health Spaces
Meet our Health sector leaders
FRANCENE O’CONNOR
LEE DEVERIDGE
Principal, Interiors | Melbourne
Senior Associate | Melbourne Registered Architect, Victoria
Francene is an architecture and interior design specialist with over 15 years of experience delivering complex health, aged care, and learning projects across Queensland and Victoria.
Lee Deveridge is a Senior Associate, Architect, and Project Leader with over 30 years of experience delivering major healthcare projects across Australia.
Her portfolio includes health interiors for brownfield and greenfield developments, complex expansions, integrated aged care hubs, mental health and research facilities, and staged refurbishments of operational health services. She has extensive experience throughout the project lifecycle, from early briefing and concept design to detailed documentation and delivery. She excels at translating functional briefs into peoplefocused environments and managing live healthcare settings with precise staging and risk assessment. Fran takes a design-led approach, collaborating closely with clients, clinicians, operators, and consultants. Her attention to detail supports infection control, regulatory compliance, and longterm operational success.
She has extensive expertise in healthcare planning, consultant coordination, design development, documentation, and project management in complex operational settings. At Lyons and STH, Lee held key leadership roles on the $600M Ballarat Base Hospital Redevelopment and the $135M Casey Hospital Expansion, both of which involved brownfield redevelopment of existing hospitals. In these roles, she managed consultant coordination, user group consultation, staged redevelopment, and project delivery within active hospital environments.
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Meet our Health sector leaders
GARETH SMITH Senior Project Architect | Melbourne Registered Architect, Victoria
CHRISTINE FLETT
Gareth is a registered architect with 20 years’ experience delivering complex social infrastructure projects across Australia in both the public and private sectors.
With senior clinical, executive, managerial, and consultancy experience in both public and private health sectors, Christine offers specialist clinical planning insight for complex capital development projects. She has a comprehensive understanding of health service operations and ensures early alignment of clinical service models, strategic objectives, asset management plans, and built-form outcomes.
Gareth specialises in health, mental health, and education projects, with additional experience in laboratory, research, and aged care settings. He has managed projects from small capital works to large-scale developments. He combines thoughtful design with rigorous technical delivery to ensure projects are completed on time, within budget, and in line with client objectives. Gareth has extensive experience across all project stages, including schematic design, design development, documentation, consultant coordination, approvals, tendering, and contract administration. He is highly proficient in BIM-based documentation, construction detailing, and superintendent roles for various contract types.
Clinical Health Planner
As lead clinical health planner, Christine manages projects of all types and scales, from primary care and community health facilities to major hospital redevelopments. She oversees each phase, from master planning and feasibility to detailed functional briefing and design. Her executive leadership enhances operational efficiency, improves patient experience, addresses workforce needs, and supports long-term sustainability.
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Health spaces we’ve created
Health Spaces
Community Health Spaces FEATURED CLIENTS Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Cooperative Brabralung and Gunaikurnai Country Rumblara Aboriginal Co-operative Yorta Yorta Country
Projects include integrated care centres, We have Aboriginal health medical centres, community and senior citizens’ centres, dental clinics, disability day facilities, and delivered day program centres. diverse rural We also have experience with rural and regional health campus redevelopments and regional that include aged care beds, as well as related community infrastructure such as community community centres, ambulance stations, health projects, and fire stations. all our work, we prioritise value for including new Inproject budgets while delivering highquality facilities that meet current standards. Each project aims to enhance facilities and the public realm, establish a strong civic adaptive reuse presence, and foster community pride. of existing facilities. Photography | Peter Clarke and Jackie Winkelman 10
Health Spaces
Each project aims to enhance the public realm, establish a strong civic presence, and foster community pride. We take a collaborative and holistic approach, partnering with clients through co-design to create practical, thoughtful, and valued buildings. Our commitment to social justice and community empowerment guides our work. Our project begins with an open and considered response to place, culture, and context, blending pragmatic planning, sustainable thinking, and technical expertise. Through ongoing collaboration with Aboriginal community organisations, we have developed a deep respect for the enduring connection between community, care, and Country. These principles are embedded in our design process. 11
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Public Health Spaces FEATURED CLIENTS East Wimmera Health Service Grampians Health VHBA
Supporting regional public health services is a particular focus of our practice.
We have completed numerous district and regional hospital master plans, site selection studies, redevelopment and expansion feasibility studies, strategic asset plans, and health service reviews for public sector clients. Our experience in delivering acute clinical projects includes emergency departments, perioperative services, medical imaging departments, and inpatient units, including obstetrics and mental health IPUs. Many projects also incorporate clinical support spaces such as pharmacy and pathology laboratories, front-of-house and back-of-house areas, and administration areas.
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Our team understands that regional health facilities differ in scale, complexity, and resourcing from metropolitan hospitals.
Our experience allows us to bridge local knowledge with specialist healthcare expertise, delivering appropriate, robust, and well-considered solutions for rural and regional contexts.
Photography | Baade Harbour Geelong 13
Health Spaces
Private Health Spaces FEATURED PROJECTS Monash Day Procedure Unit Wyndham Health Centre
These projects include day procedure In the private centres, theatre suites (including labs), recovery areas, imaging health sector, we cath departments, inpatient wards, and short-stay beds, as well as medical have delivered centres, private medical clinics, specialist consulting suites, specialist clinics, and IVF clinics. new hospitals, expansions, and refurbishments, including phased developments within active facilities.
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We are a registered consultancy on the Department of Health evaluation panel for private sector health proposals and have a longstanding appointment to the Private Hospitals Unit Architect Panel. Our responsibilities include Approval in Principle design reviews and inspections for new private hospitals and day procedure centres. Our continued appointment reflects our thorough understanding of regulatory requirements, review processes, and the Department’s operational expectations. Photography | Baade Harbour Geelong
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Our approach to Health Care design
Client-focused, collaborative, and rooted in care. Our design process is clientfocused, collaborative, and rooted in care. We collaborate with you and your stakeholders to create health environments that support patients, residents, staff, and the broader community. Each project responds to its unique site, community, heritage, and clinical needs, yet our health spaces consistently reflect these key qualities. •
Thoughtful use of color and materials to foster warmth and identity.
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Creative and responsible material selection.
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Environmentally sensitive design that considers climate, natural light, planting, and sustainable materials.
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Clear, efficient layouts that enhance health service delivery.
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Designs that incorporate community narratives, integrated technology, and universal accessibility to ensure spaces are inclusive, easy to navigate, and adaptable.
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A salutogenic approach that supports physical and psychological health by reducing environmental stressors and encouraging movement, social interaction, and connection to nature.
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Built-in flexibility and adaptability to allow spaces to evolve and expand as care models or community needs change.
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Thank you. Level 1, 103 Oxford Street, Yálla-birr-ang, Collingwood VIC 3066 83a Little Malop Street, Djiling, Geelong VIC 3220 (D) + 61 3 9090 2604 studio@bcarchitects.com.au www.bcarchitects.com.au ABN: 71 445 953 215 Registered Architect, VIC #50201