Healthy outlook for Melbourne’s medical precinct
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25 March 2009
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The future of Melbourne’s life sciences industry is looking healthy, with the University of Melbourne revealing long-term plans to develop a new medical research and teaching facility in the heart of the city.
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The University has invested $37 million to secure prime real estate at 750 Elizabeth Street for the development, which will sit alongside the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the $360 million Women’s Hospital and the Royal Children’s Hospital in Flemington Road, which is currently undergoing a billion dollar rebuild.
It will also be in close proximity to the Victorian Government’s proposed Comprehensive Cancer Centre which is slated for construction just metres from the University’s newly purchased site.
The University of Melbourne’s plans for the new research and teaching facility complements significant medical research investment flowing into existing facilities in the Parkville precinct including the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the Howard Florey Institute.
The University of Melbourne, which is highly-esteemed internationally for its medical teaching and research, is also poised to embark on a $180 million neuroscience project, which it will soon put to tender, and is developing a $100 million Life Sciences Computational Centre in partnership with the Victorian Government.
The supercomputer project will be the largest of its kind in the world dedicated to life sciences and according to the University of Melbourne’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Peter Rathjen, will attract not only top researchers but also pharmaceutical and other industries from around the world. |
