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.本系列会议记录簿收录了亨利王子医院建筑委员会的会议议事录。该委员会最初以“附属小组委员会”的身份设立，随着时间推移逐渐被正式称为“建筑委员会”。此类记录簿的核心用途为留存医院建筑委员会的全部会议议事内容。1933年11月30日，建筑附属小组委员会召开首次预备会议。会上，主席宣读了管理委员会上次会议通过的决议：“责成董事会任命一个有权增聘委员的附属小组委员会，该委员会需收集所有相关信息并制定全面改建方案，提交至为此专门召开的特别董事会会议审议。”预备会议的记录显示，荣誉医务职员共发来两封信函，提议按照现代医疗标准制定全面的医院重建方案，并提及医院当前尤为欠缺的各类设施配置。会议同时邀请荣誉医务职员推选的代表出席后续会议。本次会议就建筑师的聘任议题进行了详尽讨论。1933年12月14日的会议邀请了慈善委员会秘书参会，他就医院的现代化改建方向展开探讨，认为慈善委员会会对以社区服务为导向的医院发展提案予以支持。但慈善委员会反对增设免费病床床位，认为墨尔本无需更多纯公立医院病床。会议同时讨论得出，医院建设的最优成本方案为垂直建造而非横向拓展。1934年启动的医院重建工程于1959年全部竣工，期间完成的核心项目包括：1937年病理科大楼落成、1940年包含西翼的中心大楼正式启用、1952年新护士宿舍楼完工。1969年，医院联合莫纳什大学（Monash University）与维多利亚细胞学（妇科）服务中心（Victorian Cytology (Gynaecological) Service）建成一栋八层建筑。本系列记录同时涵盖家具配置委员会的会议记录，以及1941-1942年间防空警备应急委员会的会议记录，后者收录于第2单元末尾（归档时段为1940-1949年，存档批次为C1）。建筑委员会的最后一次会议于1973年9月4日召开，此后其职能将由执行委员会承接。会议议定执行委员会每月召开两次会议，其中每月一次的会议可同时处理总务与建筑相关事务。医院行政架构调整工作自1973年10月1日起正式启动，自此设立由董事会成员与高级行政官员组成的执行委员会，在董事会制定的政策框架内，负责医院日常运营的高效管理与职能履行。执行委员会每两周召开一次会议，董事会全体成员每季度召开一次会议，审议并听取执行委员会提交的工作报告。原总务、财务与建筑委员会的职能将全部并入执行委员会。1982-1983年间，管理委员会恢复月度例会制度，取消了每两周一次的执行委员会会议与双月度董事会会议。经评估，财务、资源利用、建筑与资源开发委员会的常规月度例会，已大幅降低了执行委员会双周例会的必要性。