Bendigo Kangan Institute (BKI) has been allocated funding from the Minister for Training and Skills for and on behalf of the State of Victoria represented by the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions for the delivery of the Community Health and Learning Hub (Hub). The funding will be used to refurbish a disused wing of the Castlemaine hospital located at 142 Cornish Street, Castlemaine, Victoria, 3450 which is owned by Dhelkaya Health. The potential area of works is approximately 675sqm.

The Hub will be used as a training facility. In consultation with Dhelkaya Health, the course offerings would include training in Personal Care, Ageing Care, General Nursing, Disability, and Family Violence Telehealth.

The Hub initiative will build on a co-located local community partnership with Dhelkaya Health to deliver BKI’s health and community services qualifications, leveraging flexible and state of the art digital delivery. This collaboration will leverage a shared education environment offering blended learning, also known as hybrid learning. Hybrid learning combines online educational materials as well as opportunities for interaction online, with traditional face-to-face classroom methods.

This collaboration with Dhelkaya Health has the potential to deliver significant benefits including student placements, opportunities for innovation incubation, access to industry advisory groups, and expert in-residence advice, making a real difference for students and industry across the regional communities where Bendigo TAFE serves.

BKI engaged Architectus as the Principal Design Consultant in September 2023. PDC tender documents (drawings and schedules) for the construction works will be completed in mid to late 2024. The project procurement plan involves the tendering of the main works package as construct only with construction to occur between January and June 2025.

BKI invites appropriately qualified contractors (Respondents) to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the Construct Only Head Contractor services for the Project as described within this document.

The purpose of this EOI process is to assess the experience, capability, capacity and commitment of Respondents to deliver the Project, seeking to shortlist Respondents to then be invited to participate in the Request for Tender (RFT) procurement stage.