VPRS 19338 Building Committee Minutes

The minutes books in this series record proceedings of meetings of the Building Committee of Prince Henry's Hospital. It commenced its life as a "sub-committee" but over time came to be referred to as a "committee". The purpose of these books was to record the proceedings of meetings of the Hospital's Building Committee. A Preliminary Meeting of the Building Sub-Committee was held on 30 November 1933. It was recorded that the Chairman read the following resolution passed at the last meeting of the Board of Management: "That the Board appoint a Sub-Committee with power to co-opt. The Committee to obtain all available information and prepare a comprehensive scheme for submission to the Board at a special meeting called for that purpose". The minutes of the Preliminary Meeting record that two letters had been received from the Honorary Medical Staff suggesting that a comprehensive scheme of re-building on modern lines should be entered into, and referring to the various requirements which, it was contended, the Hospital was especially lacking in. Representatives selected by the Honorary Medical Staff were invited to attend the upcoming meeting. The question of the appointment of an architect was discussed at length at that meeting. The Secretary of the Charities Board was invited to the meeting held on 14 December 1933. He discussed the possibilities of developing the Hospital on modern lines. He considered that the Charities Board would receive favourably any proposal for the development of the Hospital on community lines. However, the Board did not favour provision being made for more accommodation for non-paying hospital beds. The Board did not believe that Melbourne required any more purely public hospital beds. It was discussed that the cheapest means of building hospitals was vertically, not laterally. By 1959, the rebuilding program, which had commenced in 1934, was completed. It included, among other achievements, the completion of the Pathology Block in 1937; the opening of the Central Block incorporating the West Wing in 1940; and the completion of the new Nurses’ Home in 1952. In 1969 an eight-storey building, in conjunction with Monash University and the Victorian Cytology (Gynaecological) Service, was completed. This record series also includes minutes of meetings of the Furnishing Committee; and minutes of meetings of the Emergency Committee re Air Raid Precautions (1941-1942). The latter are to be found at the back of unit 2 (dated 1940-1949, in consignment C1). The last meeting of the Building Committee was held on 4 September 1973. It was to be superseded by the Executive Committee. It was opined that the Executive Committee would meet twice per month and that probably, on one of those occasions each month, deal with both House and Building matters. A restructure of the Hospital's administration commenced from 1 October 1973. As from that date there would be an Executive Committee, composed of Board members and senior administrative officers, which would, within a policy framework laid down by the Board, be responsible for the efficient day to day management and functioning of the Hospital. The Executive Committee was to meet at two-weekly intervals. The full Board would meet quarterly to receive and consider reports from its Executive Committee. The House, Finance and Building Committees were to be absorbed by the Executive Committee. During 1982-83, the Board of Management re-established monthly meetings and dispensed with fortnightly Executive Committee meetings and bi-monthly Board meetings. It was found that the regular monthly meetings of the Finance, Resources Utilization, and Buildings and Resources Development Committees had reduced the need for fortnightly Executive meetings.