May 11th, 2020New premises for Cobaw Community Health
A YEAR since works first started, Cobaw Community Health’s building is now completed. The purpose-built new facility, made possible by a $9.7M grant from the Victorian Government’s Regional Health Infrastructure Fund, will replace Cobaw’s main office in the centre of Kyneton.
Cobaw CEO Margaret McDonald said the design created a welcoming and flexible space which would ensure that everyone visiting Cobaw had access to the highest levels of comfort and professionalism.
“This vital part of local infrastructure gives us the capacity to provide a greater range of allied health and community services with significant increases in clinical spaces to meet the increases in service demand.”
The mix of exterior cladding and intricate brick work was designed to reference the local history, architecture, flora and the landscape of the Macedon Ranges.
“The grey cladding references the bluestone rock and brickwork found extensively in the area as well as the many farm sheds seen in towns across the region. The curves of the brick arches are a nod to the shop fronts of the old buildings as well as to hills of the local environment and the gold glass references Kyneton’s history as a service town for the goldfields. The internal colours reflect the colours of the natural landscape of the hills, rivers, trees and earth.”
The building is clearly visible as people come off the freeway at Kyneton and the entrance to Cobaw faces the Kyneton Health site, accessed via additional parking that has been added to the existing car park.
All of Cobaw’s services will be available in the new building including counselling, family and parenting support, homelessness support, LGBTIQA+ groups, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech pathology.
In addition, there will be a number of co-located and visiting services including the Centre for Non-Violence and Centrelink that will grow over the coming months with the increased space. In addition, multi-purpose rooms and a kitchen will allow community groups access to spaces for meetings that have state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment.
“We are pleased to be joining existing services on the precinct and particularly value the ongoing collaboration with Kyneton Health,” Ms McDonald said.
A small number of staff are on site setting up the new building in preparation for when Cobaw can open its doors again to the community.
Despite the doors currently being closed to all of its sites including at Romsey and Woodend, Cobaw continues to deliver all of its programs and services via telehealth and in person where necessary.
The contact details for enquiries and referrals remain the same – call 5421 1666 or email admin@cobaw.org.au
