Peninsula
University
Hospital
University
Hospital
Peninsula
University
Hospital
Client:
Peninsula Health / Victorian Government
Location:
Frankston, Victoria
Status:
Complete 2026
Traditional Custodians of the Land:
Boon Wurrung / Bunurong people
Contact Person:
Lawrence Toaldo
Long a healthcare landmark in Melbourne’s south-east, Frankston Hospital has been reshaped as Peninsula University Hospital – a larger, more advanced and better-connected health precinct designed to serve a growing region.
In a $1.1 billion overhaul by Architectus and Bates Smart for the Victorian Health Building Authority in partnership with the Exemplar Health consortium and Bayside Health, the old, low-rise hospital has been transformed into an innovative, vertical campus that has at its centre a 12-storey clinical services tower and podium.
Bigger and better
The vertical campus consolidates services that were once spread out across the site, improving clinical collaboration and freeing up more space for landscaping and the public realm.
What this expansion means in real terms is significant: 130 additional beds, 15 new operating theatres, new inpatient units and more women’s and children’s services, alongside dedicated mental health and oncology areas and a state-of-the-art medical imaging department.
In total, the hospital can now care for about 35,000 more patients each year.
Clarity, calm and circulation
Supporting this additional capacity, departments are thoughtfully located around the lifts and stairs of the podium and tower, streamlining staff and patient movement. High-traffic zones such as imaging, theatres and birthing suites sit within the podium’s larger floor plates.
Above them, mental health services are arranged around courtyards and lightwells that draw daylight, fresh air and greenery deep into the building.
Public and clinical circulation paths are kept separate – a deliberate planning decision that supports dignified care and creates a calmer, easier-to-navigate experience for everyone.
Biophilic design and bay views
With a people-centric and biophilic ethos, Peninsula University Hospital has been designed to maximise green space and its visual link to the surrounding landscape.
Overnight patient rooms are set high in the tower to capture open views and natural light – these are spaces that promote rest and recovery. And on each clinical floor, courtyards and wintergarden spaces offer staff, patients and visitors a beautiful reprieve from the clinical environment.
Sitting on level eight, the oncology department has sweeping views of the bay.
For patients returning regularly for treatment – and for the staff who care for them – this connection to the coast becomes part of the hospital’s therapeutic offering.
The principle of ‘healing Country, healing people’, co-created with the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, underpins the hospital’s design. It’s a powerful encapsulation of how care and place are closely intertwined.
Client:
Peninsula Health / Victorian Government
Location:
Frankston, Victoria
Status:
Complete 2026
Traditional Custodians of the Land:
Boon Wurrung / Bunurong people
Contact Person:
Lawrence Toaldo
Awards
INDE Awards, The Health and Wellbeing Space (with Bates Smart), 2026
European Healthcare Design Awards, High Commendation in Interior Design and the Arts (with Bates Smart), 2026
