Frequently Asked Questions About Hospital & Medical Construction

We design and construct a wide range of healthcare environments across both hospital and outpatient settings. This includes hospital refurbishments and upgrades (clinical areas, staff areas and support spaces), general practice clinics, general practice clinics, specialist consulting suites (cardiology, neurology, oncology, dermatology, paediatrics), medical imaging and radiology centres, allied health clinics (physiotherapy, chiropractic, podiatry, psychology, dietetics), multi-disciplinary healthcare centres, wellness and rehabilitation centres, and diagnostic centres.

We’ve delivered everything from small single-practitioner consulting rooms to large multi-specialty medical centres, as well as staged works within live hospital environments where continuity of care, access and infection control shape the program.

Timeframes depend on the site, approvals and how complex the services are (for example, wet areas, specialised ventilation, or imaging requirements). As a general guide, a typical medical fitout can range from 8-20 weeks, while new builds may take 6-12 months.

For hospital works, timeframes can be influenced by staging, after-hours requirements, and operational constraints in live environments. Once we understand your scope and target opening (or commissioning) date, we’ll map a clear program and key decision points so you can plan staffing and equipment, and move-in with confidence.

Infection prevention is embedded throughout our design process, particularly for hospital and clinical spaces where protocols are more stringent and the environment is often live.

This includes specifying non-porous surfaces that withstand medical-grade disinfectants, designing layouts that separate clean and contaminated workflows, incorporating hand hygiene stations at strategic points, ensuring proper ventilation in treatment rooms, and selecting sealed flooring to prevent bacterial harbouring. We also minimise touchpoints in waiting areas and design consulting rooms with door swings that support infection control protocols.

Absolutely. This is an increasingly common request, especially for preventive care practices and wellness centres – and it can also apply to hospital-facing areas where comfort and calm matter.

We achieve this through residential-inspired design elements like warm timber finishes, natural stone accents, soft indirect lighting, comfortable lounge-style furniture, and biophilic design incorporating plants and natural materials. The key is balancing this elevated aesthetic with practical medical requirements like wipeable surfaces and designing with appropriate lighting in mind.

Compliance is a core part of what we do, across both medical and hospital fitouts. We manage all statutory approvals, council submissions, National Construction Code (NCC) compliance, Australian Standards adherence, fire engineering solutions, and accessibility requirements.

We’re particularly experienced with older building renovations where compliance can be complex. Our expertise often allows us to find alternative solutions when standard approaches won’t work, and have rescued stalled projects that others couldn’t get approved.

Yes, we can work collaboratively with your existing consultants or provide our own in-house design team.

Our flexible approach allows us to integrate with your preferred professionals while maintaining our high standards of delivery.

Yes, we provide complimentary on-site feasibility studies for all potential healthcare projects, including medical clinics and hospital fitouts. During this assessment, we evaluate your space (or potential space), discuss your clinical requirements, identify compliance challenges, assess structural constraints, and provide preliminary budget ranges. This no-obligation service allows you to understand project feasibility, approximate costs, and potential timeline before committing to detailed design work, ensuring we’re the right fit for your project.

Costs will vary depending on size, location, and what stage the space is at. If you’re moving into a warm shell (a space that already has the basics like flooring, ceilings, lighting, air-conditioning and bathrooms), the fitout usually ranges from about $1,800 to $2,500 per square metre.

A cold shell (essentially an empty space with just walls and services connected) needs more work, so costs are typically between $2,600 and $3,200 per square metre.

If you’re creating a brand-new building from the ground up, the costs are higher again, usually between $5,000 and $6,000 per square metre. Smaller practices often cost more per square metre because design and approval costs don’t really shrink, even if the space is smaller.

Hospital projects can vary significantly depending on staging, services upgrades, infection control requirements, and operational constraints – so we usually confirm a tailored range after a feasibility review.

We allocate a dedicated Site Project Manager to each medical fitout project who coordinates all sub-trades, manages compliance and approvals, provides regular progress updates, handles quality control and safety standards, and serves as your single point of contact throughout the build.

For hospital environments, this also includes careful staging and coordination with site teams so access, noise, dust and timing are managed around clinical operations.

Cyclo Group has over 30 years of experience delivering healthcare environments across medical clinics and hospital settings.

Our extensive experience spans general practices, specialist clinics, multi-disciplinary healthcare facilities, and allied health spaces. This three-decade track record means we’ve navigated countless regulatory changes, compliance updates, and evolving healthcare design trends, giving us deep insights into what works best for medical practitioners and their patients.

We operate Australia-wide with established teams in Wollongong (our original base since 1988), Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Newcastle.

Our national reach allows us to handle multi-location projects for healthcare groups expanding across states, while maintaining deep knowledge of local building codes, council requirements, and healthcare compliance standards in each region.

Unlike general commercial builders who treat medical fitouts like any other commercial project, we offer a fully integrated design-and-construct approach with healthcare-specialised architects, designers, engineers, and project managers working under one roof.

This reduces gaps between what’s designed, what’s priced and what’s built – particularly important in hospital and clinical environments, where services coordination and compliance details can quickly affect program and cost. Our 70%+ repeat client rate reflects the predictable outcomes and transparent delivery that comes from having a single team accountable for your entire project from initial design through final compliance certification.

We conduct detailed on-site feasibility studies before providing any quote, identifying potential compliance issues, structural challenges, and technical requirements upfront.

Our healthcare-specialised team knows where hidden costs typically emerge. From unexpected electrical upgrades for medical equipment, ventilation requirements for treatment rooms, radiation shielding for imaging suites – we factor these into initial estimates rather than surprising you with variations mid-project. Throughout construction, we provide real-time updates and maintain complete cost transparency.