A state-of-the-art medical facility
Two exciting new medical facilities are under construction on the grounds of the old Newmarket Racecourse.
The two buildings, a new Netcare Hospital and MediMix at Newmarket, are around 60 000m² and 15 000m² respectively.
The RECORD met with Riaan Jonker, CEO of Rejem Linton Two, the owner and developer of the MediMix building, to find out more about the project.
A specialised facility
According to Jonker, they have been selective of the people invited to be part of MediMix to ensure top quality medical care is provided.
“We are very selective in who we allow taking up occupation in the building,” said Jonker.
“The various disciplines are put together to complement each other.”
Facilities that will be offered at the three-storey MediMix includes a day hospital with 24 beds and a physical rehabilitation hospital with 32 beds.
Other facilities include a national renal care centre, oncology centre, radiology and specialists in biokinetics, prosthetics, dentistry and general practitioners. Three pathology labs are also tenants at MediMix.
MediMix will be linked to the hospital via a 35m fully enclosed sky bridge. This sky bridge also serves as an anchor for an exciting new technology to transport samples from the hospital to the three pathology labs.
A total of 360m of pneumatic tube systems link the facility, allowing samples to be transported directly from the hospital to the labs. The samples travel at speeds of between 6m/s and 12m/s.
For the community
According to Jonker, an important part of the construction of both MediMix and the Netcare Hospital was to cause as little disruption to the community as possible, while at the same time creating an opportunity to enrich and empower members of the community.
To limit the effect construction vehicles have on the traffic a gravel road of 1.2km was constructed to the rear of the Newmarket Racecourse property with an entrance on Elandsfontein Road. This road ensures no construction vehicles have to gain access to the sites from the main road network.
The construction further gave the local community the opportunity to deliver their skills as well as the opportunity to learn new skills. According to Jonker, more than one community liaison officer has been appointed and has engaged with the local workforce on different levels to deliver services and local suppliers to deliver goods.
He said that skills transfer is a great priority of the project and explained that experienced labourers work with labourers with less experience. In this way, they can build their skills and carry these skills into future projects.
Medimix is set to open in May 2022.
