Footscray Hospital
Explore Footscray's new People's Hospital. On this interactive map, you’ll be guided through key areas of the hospital, including ‘Hospital Street’ and public spaces. Hear from Western Health staff, architects and artists as they share stories, design approaches, behind-the-scenes insights and moments that shaped the project.
Please note: Footscray Hospital is now operational. The Emergency Department and Patient Ward are not accessible as part of this tour. Audio only.
What you’ll need:
- Your own phone and headphones
Explore the hospital in your own way, at your own pace. Stops can be experienced in any order. As you explore, remain aware of your surroundings and be considerate of people around you.
Footscray Hospital represents one of Victoria’s largest investments in public health infrastructure. Known as the ‘People’s Hospital’, it brings together state-of-the-art clinical spaces, community-focused design and an integrated public realm. Russell Harrison introduces the project’s vision, and aspirations for how patients, staff and visitors will experience the Hospital.
Professor Russell Harrison—Chief Executive Officer, Western Health
Russell moved from the NHS in England joining Western Health as the Executive Director of Operations in February 2013 before being appointed as the CEO in October 2017.During this time Western Health has tripled in size both in terms of staffing and budget as the catchment population has grown to just under 1,000,000. New services such as Mental Health and Prison Health have commenced and the voluntary amalgamation with Djerriwarah Health Services has also added more services and area of coverage. He has a strong interest in working towards improvements in patient care and the health system to support the patients access care in the best way for them.
At the heart of the Hospital is the remarkable ‘Welcome to Country’ tapestry, woven at the Australian Tapestry Workshop. Artists Maree Clarke and Mitch Mahoney explain the design’s microscopic reference to Maribyrnong River reeds. Senior weaver Amy Cornall describes the unique three-dimensional approach, the materials used and the collaborative effort behind its making.
Maree Clarke, artist
Maree is a Yorta Yorta/Wamba Wamba/Mutti Mutti/Boonwurrung woman from northwest Victoria, who has been living and working in Melbourne for over three decades.
Clarke is a pivotal figure in the reclamation of south-east Australian Aboriginal art practices, reviving elements of Aboriginal culture that were lost—or laying dormant—over the period of colonisation, as well as a leader in nurturing and promoting the diversity of contemporary south-east Aboriginal artists. Maree is known for her open, collaborative cultural practice, working intergenerationally to revive cultural knowledge and using technology to bring new audiences to south-east Aboriginal arts.
Mitch Mahoney, artist
Born in North-West Victoria along the banks of the Murray River, Mitch is a Boonwurrung/Barkindji artist who grew up in Mildura and the Hunter Valley. As a multidisciplinary artist, Mitch focuses on the revitalisation of South-Eastern Aboriginal practices, creating cultural items such as possum skin cloaks, traditional stringy bark and red gum canoes, and kangaroo tooth necklaces. He specialises in line drawings and South-Eastern Aboriginal design. His art reflects his Country and the natural connection he feels to all that it supports, creates and provides, and the ever-changing influence it has on him.
Amy Cornall—Senior Weaver, Australian Tapestry Workshop
Amy first started at the ATW in 2004, while completing an Honours Degree of Bachelor of Fine Art (Tapestry) through Monash University. Amy has worked on a number of major tapestries, including Plant Song, 2020, designed by Janet Laurence, Bridle Track, Hill End, 2019, designed by Luke Sciberras for Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Alice Bayke, 2008, designed by Yvonne Todd for Queensland Art Gallery and Abstract Structure, 2007, designed by Roger Kemp for the National Gallery of Victoria.
Welcome to the Western Health Foundation. Here, community generosity becomes real impact. Sharon Read tells us how donations fund vital initiatives like cutting-edge surgical technology, comfort for patients and programs that improve care across Melbourne’s West. Every contribution, big or small, makes a difference, turning support into hope, innovation and better experiences for patients and their families.
Sharon Read—Director, Western Health Foundation
Sharon is a seasoned executive with over 30 years’ experience in senior leadership across Victoria’s public health and not-for-profit sectors. She currently serves as Director, Change and Transformation and the Acting Director of the Western Health Foundation, where she plays a key role in strategy, innovation and leading organisational change. With deep experience across philanthropy, stakeholder engagement and community development, Sharon works closely with donors, volunteers, and partners to create sustainable and lasting impact for people living in the west.
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Inside Footscray Hospital, COX Architecture and Billard Leece Partnership focused on creating calm, intuitive and light-filled interiors that support wellbeing and efficient care. From Hospital Street, Paul Curry describes how natural light, connection to the outside and movement pathways shape daily experiences for patients, staff and visitors.
Paul Curry—Director, COX Architecture
A skilled architect and enthusiastic design advocate, Paul has a depth of expertise across multiple sectors and geographies including significant residential, health, hotel, sports, commercial and justice projects. This breadth of work allows him to embed richness of design and pragmatic knowledge into every project and sees him uniquely adept in leading large teams. Championing the use of innovative methodologies, Paul translates complex strategic, technical and pragmatic brief requirements into cohesive built forms. He consistently delivers high-quality architecture, offering well-designed spaces for people while celebrating each project’s broader context.
Artist Olana Janfa’s works bring bold colour, energy and storytelling into the Hospital environment.
Western Health CEO Russell Harrison introduces the overarching approach to artwork throughout the Hospital before Olana describes the ideas behind the pieces he created for Footscray Hospital, each shaped by themes of community, care and cultural expression. Olana is a local artist engaged via Plenary Health Consortium and its Footscray Hospital Arts Partner, Footscray Community Arts.
Olana Janfa, artist
Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Olana emigrated to Norway as a teenager before settling in Melbourne (Naarm) in 2015. A self-taught artist, he began his creative practice in 2018, drawing on memories of Ethiopian Orthodox church art to stay connected to his heritage. His work explores identity, experience and culture, using art as a language beyond words. Olana’s practice spans illustration, large-scale public art and collaborations, using recycled timber, found materials, and acrylic, oil and pastel. He is also deeply committed to community engagement, leading workshops with culturally and linguistically diverse and migrant young people.
The Hospital’s external landscape was designed by Tract to create a restorative, accessible and nature-rich environment. Rob Copeland explains how the brief shaped a bold approach to planting, outdoor spaces and movement networks, all anchored by a central Village Green. From here, he identifies key features, highlighting the relationship between garden areas and the buildings and how these green spaces are intended to support comfort, recovery and everyday use.
Rob Copeland—Senior Principal Landscape Architect and Urban Designer, Tract
Rob is a passionate and accomplished Landscape Architect and Urban Designer with an exceptional track record for developing complex, sustainable and inclusive health and education facilities, mixed-use communities; open space and recreational facilities; and accessible human scaled streetscapes and public realm. In each project, he seeks to provide a considered urban design and landscape solution that responds to site and context, incorporating robust and honest detailing and materiality, equitable and inclusive access, public art and enjoyment, sustainability and biodiversity, and to deliver beauty and logical simplicity which allows ‘design’ to be subsumed by ‘place’.
From the outside, the Hospital’s architecture is designed to feel open, connected and grounded in its landscaped setting. COX Architecture’s Paul Curry outlines how the building form, façade and material palette has been shaped to reflect the vision of a welcoming, community-centred hospital.
He describes how the exterior responds to internal functions and how the architecture strengthens connections to the surrounding streets and green spaces.
Paul Curry—Director, COX Architecture
A skilled architect and enthusiastic design advocate, Paul has a depth of expertise across multiple sectors and geographies including significant residential, health, hotel, sports, commercial and justice projects. This breadth of work allows him to embed richness of design and pragmatic knowledge into every project and sees him uniquely adept in leading large teams. Championing the use of innovative methodologies, Paul translates complex strategic, technical and pragmatic brief requirements into cohesive built forms. He consistently delivers high-quality architecture, offering well-designed spaces for people while celebrating each project’s broader context.
Victoria University (VU) plays a key role in training the next generation of health professionals. Professor Alex Parker explains how VU will operate within Footscray Hospital and what the co-location means for learning, research and clinical training. She discusses the benefits of proximity, shared spaces and cross-disciplinary collaboration, for the students who learn and work here.
Professor Alex Parker—Executive Director, Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University
Alex leads a multidisciplinary research group that aims to measure, understand, and promote physical activity to optimise mental wellbeing and prevent and treat mental illness. Alex is also a practising clinical psychologist specialising in youth mental health.
Please note: Footscray Hospital is now operational. The Patient Ward is not accessible as part of this tour. Audio only.
This inpatient ward represents a major step forward in patient-centred design. Hear from Michelle Read and Mark Mitchell about what distinguishes this from other wards, from room layouts and natural light to improved staff workflow. They explain how these design decisions enhance patient comfort and recovery, while also supporting efficient care.
Michelle Read—Director of Nursing & Midwifery, Footscray Hospital, Western Health
Michelle joined the New Footscray Hospital project team in December 2023. She has extensive experience managing nursing and midwifery matters. Her previous roles include Deputy Director of the Nursing & Midwifery Workforce Unit and leading Phase 1 implementation of the Electronic Medical Record. Michelle is committed to providing excellent care and supporting professional development for nurses and midwives. She has a personal connection to Footscray Hospital, her birthplace.
Mark Mitchell—Principal, Health Sector Lead, Billard Leece Partnership (BLP)
Mark has been instrumental in the growth, expansion, and specialisation of the healthcare sector at BLP. As both a Principal of the practice and Health Sector Leader, Mark is a thought-leader who enthusiastically shares his expert knowledge with the team and his peers locally and internationally. Mark has successfully led large scale healthcare projects in Australia, Hong Kong, China and New Zealand. As Director-in-Charge of the new Footscray Hospital in Melbourne, Mark drove the team towards a ‘big picture’ collective vision to create a landmark design outcome for Western Health and Footscray Hospital, and a sustainable health and education precinct.
Please note: Footscray Hospital is now operational. The Emergency Department is not accessible as part of this tour. Audio only.
The Emergency Department (ED) is one of the Hospital’s busiest and most complex environments. Dr Ainslie Senz highlights how the design balances patient comfort with clinical safety, starting with a calming waiting area. The ED’s layout, integrated imaging and dedicated mental health spaces, all shaped through staff insight, support efficient care and adaptability into the future.
Dr Ainslie Senz—Emergency Physician and Director, Footscray Emergency Department, Western Health
Ainslie has been involved in the vision and design of the new Footscray Hospital ED from the beginning and sees it as one of the most challenging and rewarding activities of her career. Now about to open, she is confident the teamwork between the clinical staff, architects and designers has delivered a space that works for staff, patients, and the community for many years to come.