THE PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT REVIEW
A light-filled play room gives children space away from the ward while keeping clinical support close.
Mindy Fox, Harsha Rajashekar and Tara Veldman of Billard Leece Partnership.
the child and the parent. The parent zone sits at the window, where natural light is strongest, with a day bed, storage, a reading light and a curtain. The arrangement reflects a basic truth of paediatric care: parents and carers don’t visit, they stay. The building’s triangular floorplate presented clinical planning
understood as a critical contributor to wellbeing, dignity, family connection and quality of care,” Veldman says. NSW Health Minister Ryan Park says the building brings together “cutting-edge clinical services and thoughtfully designed spaces that prioritise the safety, comfort and wellbeing of young patients and their families”.
A patient room gives families more than a chair beside the bed, with natural light, a parent zone and space for routine.
challenges, but BLP says it improves sightlines across ward wings and orients rooms toward winter gardens, outlook and daylight. Some rooms include ceiling-mounted tracking systems to allow a single clinician to move a patient from bed to ensuite, reducing manual handling demands on staff. On the oncology floor, where children may spend hours in a single chair receiving chemotherapy, floor-to-ceiling windows offer outdoor views, rooms can be closed for privacy, and ceiling artwork gives young patients a focal point during treatment. The desk, rather than the bedhead, is positioned as the child’s point of control. “They can personalise it. They can make it their own,” Fox says. Delivery and next steps Folded aluminium facade panels catch the light, echoing the shimmer of the Parramatta River system behind the design.
Design as clinical strategy The design begins working before a child reaches a ward and the approach is legible at every scale. A landscaped forecourt leads into KidsWay, a colour-graded internal route turning a long path through existing hospital fabric into a calmer arrival experience. BLP associate and interior designer Mindy Fox says the intent was to move away from a clinical entry “without feeling overwhelming”. Fox says even short distractions can matter inside a paediatric hospital. “It doesn’t have to be a big distraction or a long distraction,” she says. “A three-minute distraction can be as impactful and create a core memory as something that’s an entire experience.” The Wattle Building’s identity is drawn from the Parramatta River system. BLP associate architect Harsha Rajashekar describes the guiding concept as “under the river, on the river, and above the river”— with earthy tones and curved forms inside, and folded aluminium panels higher on the tower catching light to evoke the shimmer of water across the facade. The Reggio Emilia approach also shaped the interiors, treating children as active participants in their environment rather than passive patients moving through a system. A floorplate built for the long day Each patient room is planned around three zones: clinical care,
The Westmead project followed a long delivery path, from funding in 2019 and state-significant planning approval in 2021 to main works from 2023 and completion this year. Its next test will be daily use. Families will move between KidsWay, play rooms and terraces while staying close to clinical support. The building’s value will sit not only in the services it
Ceiling artwork gives children something gentle to focus on during treatment while natural light keeps the oncology floor open.
adds to Westmead, but also in how carefully it has made room for the hours before, after and between care.
KidsWay uses colour and curves to turn a long internal route into a calmer journey towards care.
June / July 2026 – 19
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