Client: SA Health / Women’s and Children’s Health Network / Lendlease
Location: Adelaide, SA / Kaurna Country
The New Women’s and Children’s Hospital (nWCH) is South Australia’s largest ever public infrastructure investment — a $3.2 billion tertiary care facility designed to deliver world-class healthcare for babies, children, young people, women, and families across the state.
Before design could begin, the project required a rapid, evidence-based masterplanning process to determine the most suitable site. With multiple options under consideration, each with complex planning, infrastructure, and stakeholder implications, Lucid’s role was to help cut through the uncertainty and guide decision-makers toward the best long-term outcome.
Lucid formed part of a ‘best-for-project’ building services engineering consortium alongside Aurecon and BR+A Consulting Engineers. We led the services-focused analysis for the intensive six-month site selection process — balancing cost, constructability, infrastructure resilience, and serviceability with a clear focus on clinical and community outcomes.
Our contribution focused on analysing authority infrastructure impacts, services integration feasibility, and long-term sustainability risks — including flood resilience, disaster recovery, and climate adaptation considerations. We applied weighted multi-criteria assessment to compare all site options, translating engineering complexity into clear, actionable insight.
Lucid’s contributions across the masterplanning and site analysis phase included:
This project goes beyond technical design — it’s about shaping a space where care, recovery, and community are built into every detail. Lucid’s early contribution has helped ensure the nWCH will not only deliver world-class healthcare, but also reflect the priorities of a healthier, fairer, and more sustainable future.
By placing clinical and community outcomes at the centre of complex infrastructure decisions, this project exemplifies Lucid’s purpose — creating a better world through clear thinking and impactful design.
