Opportunities at the Royal Hospital site

Sydney Labor Government misses opportunity

I highlighted in an earlier post that the State Government was missing a great opportunity by not looking at what was the best use of the Royal Newcastle Hospital site.

In today's Newcastle Herald opinion page, medical specialist Ross Kerridge highlights the potential of the site to facilitate the establishment of a Foundation (called Orion because it is the constellation of The Hunter!) to attract creative people in a variety of fields from around the world to Newcastle.

What a great idea! But will the State Government listen? No way! It's full steam ahead to "maximise" the number of apartments on the site for the wealthy to enjoy.

Planning Sydney Labor style.

Part of Ross's concept is reproduced below.

The Orion Foundation ‘Gathering Stars for the Hunter’

The establishment of the Orion Foundation is proposed as an investment in economic and social infrastructure for the Hunter region, and as the primary social dividend to be delivered to the region from the redevelopment of the former site of the Royal Newcastle Hospital.

The Foundation will initially be established based on a nucleus of residential properties, funded by profit from the RNH redevelopment. These will then be sustainably managed to drive regional transformation and economic development.

Concept

The primary determinant of economic development in the next fifty years will be availability of a skilled workforce, and creative ‘intellectual’ talent. Internationally, regions that are rich in the ‘resource’ of innovative people, creating and exchanging knowledge and ideas, will prosper economically.

The Orion Foundation will provide the basis for this resource by attracting creative, talented people to Newcastle. This will be achieved by providing attractive, low-rental residential properties, for limited duration (e.g. two years) in an intellectually simulating environment. Residents shall be selected on a competitive basis, so that only the ‘best’ talent is given the privilege of this support. This supported accommodation will be augmented by other (non-financial) support such as facilitated networking with local community and creative leaders, mentoring etc, as part of a ‘package’ that can be marketed as an ‘Orion Fellowship’ that will gain prestige similar to other internationally recognised endowments.

The initial ‘capital’ – the residential properties - will be provided as the ‘social dividend’ from the redevelopment of the former Royal Newcastle Hospital site. They will then be sustainably managed on a not-for-profit basis by the Orion Foundation, so that there is no requirement for ongoing financial support.

This initiative will attract creative people (researchers, students, emerging talents) from a variety of fields to Newcastle. In the short-term, this will be a direct economic boost. In the medium term, some of these people will start new industries or new developments. In the long-term, the Hunter region will become recognised as one of the ‘creative centres’ of the world.

This is a concept that has been shown to work. Stanford University was endowed as a gift to the ‘Children of California’ by the Stanford Family, and has led to the wealth of Silicon Valley. The Rhodes, Carnegie, and Nuffield endowments achieved similar results elsewhere. More recently, post-industrial Dundee (Scotland) is undergoing a knowledge/creativity led economic transformation.

The financial dividend associated with the redevelopment of the Royal Newcastle Hospital site provides a singular opportunity to establish similar intellectual infrastructure in the Hunter Region, without direct cost to Government, taxpayers, or private groups.