Ballarat Community Health Sebastopol Redevelopment
A modernised community health centre design that gives a growing service the room and identity it needs, once funding allows it to be built.
Ballarat Community Health's Sebastopol centre had just six consultation rooms after a refurbishment only a decade earlier, well short of what a rapidly growing service needed. Our design adds around one thousand square metres of new extension alongside a renovation of the existing building and has reached full design and documentation while construction funding is being secured.
Completion
Design complete 2025, pending construction funding
Services
Architecture, Interior Design, Landscape Design
Client
Ballarat Community Health
Location
Sebastopol, VIC
Outgrown After Only a Decade
Despite a refurbishment only ten years earlier, the centre had just six consultation rooms, clearly undersized for an organisation that had grown considerably over that decade. Ballarat Community Health needed a modernised suite of facilities, along with a stronger street presence and a design able to accommodate a large and diverse group of stakeholders, including multiple independent allied health providers.
Open and Welcoming,
Yet Secure
The existing street presence felt run down, particularly for younger visitors, and the site's history of break-ins in a low socioeconomic area meant the design had to feel genuinely open and welcoming while still protecting staff and patients. A new Men's Shed development next door added further complexity, requiring close coordination with its architects and consultants.
A Courtyard and a
Covered Walkway
We retained the well-established entry and added a front courtyard with a regional landscape architect, along with a covered walkway linking the street to the main building. A U-shaped expansion wraps consultation rooms around the perimeter, with a central atrium and clerestory windows opening up the heart of the building, tied to the existing structure through a shared earthy palette.
One Considered Whole
Once built, this project will give Ballarat Community Health significant amenities expansion, along with a stronger sense of identity for the community it serves and spaces that are fit-for-purpose. We're proud of how convincingly the design blends old and new into a single considered whole.