From flooded to fortified
Bay Building Group is celebrating completion of its biggest project, a major hospital rebuild for a flood-hit community
By Miranda Maxwell
Last October marked two years since floods ravaged the rural Victorian town of Rochester and neighbouring communities along the Campaspe River, destroying the region’s busy hospital and aged care facility.
Melbourne-based insurance construction firm Bay Building Group – in which PSC Insurance Group, in partnership with Envest and Aviso Group, has a 40% stake – won a two-year contract worth tens of millions of dollars to rebuild the critical medical facility.
Shortly before Christmas, a grand reopening day marked the resumption of operations for the first time since a hasty evacuation was carried out and record floods drenched the building’s interior.
“The hospital reopening is a really important milestone, not just for us finishing the project but for the community of Rochester and surrounding areas,” Bay Building Group executive director Michelle Denison tells Insurance News.
“The deluge impacted every resident of Rochester, inflicting both physical and profound emotional distress upon this tightly knit, resilient community.”
Rochester was swamped by record riverine floods, with almost 3000 properties affected and more than 100 later demolished. The hospital buildings and equipment were ruined as water levels reached 400mm.
The medical centre, rebuilt following the floods in Rochester in 2022 (top picture)
Among the unusual things to contend with during the 13,000-square-metre rebuild were dead fish in the premises, the threat of water-borne diseases and insect infestations.
“There are aspects of a regional build that we often forget,” Bay Building chief operating officer Merima Selimovic says.
“So, for example, we’ve had a few wasp nests and snakes come onto the premises – there are nuances that have been different from that perspective.”
The hospital is the heartbeat of the town – which is about 180km north of Melbourne – and its reopening signals normality and a sense of closure after the record catastrophe, she says.
“The hospital provides stability. It’s been a significant period of almost two years of unrest … so being able to see [services resume] instils that peace of mind with the community.”
The restoration was funded through coverage provided by the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority, the primary insurer for the state government, and the Victorian Health Building Authority.
Loss Adjusting services were provided by Terry Hogan of Property & Forensic Assessing. Bay Building Group employs 250 people across Australia and says it offers a “rapid, efficient and cost-effective response” to all insurable events. It deploys specialist teams across divisions Bay Building Services and Linx Restoration Services.
“We offer clients an all-encompassing building and restoration service, and are committed to delivering exceptional customer service, increased transparency across cost and performance control, and exemplary workmanship,” chief executive Matthew Dusting says.
“Future-proofing has been a key consideration in the rebuild.”
Merima Selimovic, Bay Building Group
In Rochester, Linx swiftly began restoration make-safe works, including thorough cleaning and ice-blasting to prevent further deterioration and mould growth. Bay Building then undertook the rebuild in stages, introducing measures to prevent damage in future floods. “Future-proofing has been a key consideration in the rebuild,” Ms Selimovic says.
Mitigation measures include redirecting the site’s fall away from the building, increasing roof plumbing capacity, trenches around the perimeter and elevated power point heights. Challenges included upgrading cladding, structural framing and fire services.
“The process has been challenging, there’s no doubt about that,” Bay Building construction manager Andrew McDonald says. “A catastrophic event is one thing, and with a whole heap of building enhancements to accommodate changes in construction code requirements, well, that’s another layer of complexity.”
It was common to have up to 100 workers a day on site, and local farm hands helped with the project.
Linx manager Mick Barry said: “It was unbelievable how the community got behind us. Every day I’d I just have people there to lend a hand, or I’d go out for dinner and they’d say, ‘G’day, Mick.’ It was like we were the celebrities of the town.”
Bay Building is now working with other hospitals, schools and aged care properties.
“That’s where we perform well, we think about who we’re dealing with,” Ms Denison said. “We’ve learnt a lot from insurance sector conversations around vulnerable customers – we take it seriously and realise that in places like a hospital or school, those things really matter.
“We’ve got strict compliance standards and a strict safety culture.”
Rochester is now “healing”, she says, and the supportive locals illustrate “the strength of small communities when things like this happen.
“We are proud to play our part in helping this wonderful community get their lives back on track.”
