Monash Medical Centre Tower Expansion Project

Lessons Learnt Review

Information for the people who delivered the project, and who we would like to hear from.

Opposite
Lessons Learnt ReviewMonash Medical Centre Tower Expansion
OppositeOpposite
and VIDA Health

A review of the Tower Expansion Project, and your part in it.

VIDA Health has engaged Opposite to carry out an independent lessons learnt review of the Monash Medical Centre Tower Expansion. We would like to interview you and invite you to a workshop. This page explains what the review is for, what is involved, and how your input will be handled.

1interview45 to 60 minutes, at a time that suits you
1workshopAbout three hours, with your project phase
Septo NovInterviews from late September, workshops in October
0namesYour comments are not attributed to you
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01 · The project

The project

The Tower Expansion added seven storeys above the Emergency Department at Monash Medical Centre, in a live hospital environment. It ran for about two and a half years, from design through procurement and construction, and involved VIDA Health, the health service, the design team, the enabling works and main works builders, and the quantity surveyor. VIDA Health wants to understand what the experience of delivering it can teach future health infrastructure projects.

What the review looks at

What the review covers

The review is organised around the five phases of the project. We look at each phase separately, then at how decisions and conditions in one phase affected the phases that followed.

Phase 1
Design developmentSchematic design to construction documentation
Phase 2
Enabling works procurementProcurement of the early works
Phase 3
Main works procurementTender and contracting of the main works
Phase 4
Enabling works deliveryEarly works construction
Phase 5
Main works deliveryMain construction to completion
02 · Purpose

Purpose of the review

This is not an audit and it is not an assessment of any organisation or person. The purpose is to identify what future projects should keep doing, what they should change, and why. We are looking at three things.

1

What worked well

Turn over
Keep

The practices, working relationships and decisions that helped the project, and that future projects should retain.

2

What could be improved

Turn over
Change

Where delivery was harder than it needed to be, what contributed to that, and what could be done differently next time.

3

How the project worked as a system

Turn over
Understand

How the organisations worked together, how decisions were made, how information moved between people, and how the culture of the project influenced behaviour. This is where our organisational psychology background is applied.

Independent.Opposite reports to VIDA Health and has no interest in any of the organisations involved. Our focus is on the systems, processes and conditions that people worked within, not on individual performance. Findings are reported as themes.
03 · Interviews

The interviews

We are interviewing around twenty people from VIDA Health, the health service, the design team, the builders and the quantity surveyor. The interviews give us an understanding of each phase from the people who worked in it, and they inform the workshops that follow.

Length45 to 60 minutesOne to one
WhenLate September to early OctoberA time that suits you
WhereOnline or in personYour choice
PreparationNone neededBring notes if you want to
01Your role
Your position in the project, what you were responsible for, and which organisations and people you worked with.
02What worked well
What went well in your phase, why it went well, and what a future project should keep.
03What could be corrected or improved
Where the work was more difficult than it should have been, what contributed to that, and what would have helped.
04Culture and ways of working
How the organisations worked together, how decisions were made, whether people felt able to raise concerns, and how behaviour on the project was shaped by its systems and pressures.
Confidential

Your interview is confidential

  • Nothing you say is attributed to you or your organisation.
  • Findings are reported as themes drawn from all of the interviews.
  • Interviews are recorded only with your agreement. Notes are stored in Australia and accessed only by the Opposite team.
  • You can decline any question and end the interview at any time.
04 · Workshops

The workshops

There are five workshops, one for each phase of the project. Each brings together the organisations involved in that phase for about three hours. We present what the documents and interviews have told us, and the group confirms it, corrects it and decides what matters most for future projects.

How manyFiveOne per project phase
WhenOctober 2026Dates confirmed by VIDA
FormatFace to face where possibleAbout three hours, with a break
WhoThe organisations in your phaseTypically eight to twelve people
01Context
The phase, its key events and the themes identified from the documents and interviews.
02What worked and what was difficult
The group's view of both, including where people experienced the phase differently.
03Contributing conditions
Why things happened the way they did. Roles, information, timing, approvals, the interfaces between organisations, and how people responded to the pressures they were under.
04Lessons and actions
Agreeing which lessons matter most and what future projects should do about them.
?What you will get from us
  • An invitation from VIDA Health with the date, time and venue.
  • A short briefing note a week beforehand, setting out the themes we will discuss.
  • A summary of your workshop afterwards.

If you are unable to attend, let your VIDA Health contact know and we will arrange another way to include your input.

05 · Key dates

Key dates

Dates are indicative. VIDA Health will confirm the times for your interview and workshop.

  1. SepDocument reviewReviewing the project record and confirming participants
  2. Late Sep to early OctInterviewsAround twenty, across the organisations involved
  3. OctWorkshopsFive, one per phase
  4. Early NovAnalysisThemes, priorities and recommended actions
  5. NovReportingFinal report and lessons learnt register to VIDA Health
Now
06 · Contact

Contact

PM

Patrick McGrath

Engagement lead · Opposite

Patrick is leading the review and is the contact for any questions about the interviews, the workshops, how information is handled, or what happens with the findings.

Patrick is an organisational psychologist. His work focuses on how systems, processes and people interact in complex projects, and on turning what is learned into practical changes to the way organisations work.

patrick@opposite.com.au
VVIDA Health

Max Clausen

Senior Project Manager. Contact Max about your organisation's participation, dates and logistics.

max.clausen@vida.vic.gov.au

Working with Patrick

Opposite is a Melbourne consultancy specialising in organisational psychology, human factors and human-centred design. We work with organisations to understand how their systems, processes and people affect performance, safety and behaviour, and we have carried out this kind of work on rail, road, energy and health programs in Victoria.