Tōtara Haumaru, North Shore Hospital

Tōtara Haumaru, Aotearoa, New Zealand’s newest hospital, marks the most significant development at North Shore Hospital in 50 years. Spanning over 19,600 sqm, this state-of-the-art healthcare facility has been designed to meet the evolving needs of the northern region’s growing and ageing population. Completed for Health New Zealand, the four-storey hospital features a patient and whānau-centred design that prioritises comfort, safety, and well-being while seamlessly supporting modern healthcare practices. This monumental project is poised to enhance the capacity and resilience of health services across the Auckland and Northland regions.

Jensen Hughes was engaged as fire engineers after the initial team was unable to address several regulatory challenges raised by Auckland Council and Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) regarding the complexity of the staged and ‘stay in place’ evacuation strategy. Our team carefully reviewed the concerns and restarted the Preliminary Design and Fire Engineering Brief (FEB) process. Through careful analysis and collaboration, we successfully gained approval for the revised FEB and the proposed evacuation strategy, which balanced safety and operational efficiency.

The building’s evacuation strategy integrates a combination of ‘stay-in-place’ protocols, specifically for specialised areas like operating theatres and endoscopy rooms, as well as for areas not affected by fire alarm activation. This strategy minimises disruption caused by fire events or alarm activations, ensuring that all areas, except the one where the alarm is triggered, continue to operate as usual. In the event of an alarm, patients in the affected area are moved into adjacent fire cells where they can remain safely in place.

A key feature of the design is a large central atrium/courtyard, which is not fire-separated from the surrounding ward spaces to provide patients with an enjoyable outlook. Our fire engineering design incorporated extensive fire and smoke modelling to demonstrate compliance with safety regulations, addressing the safety of patients in the wards in the event of a fire occurring in the courtyard.

Through close collaboration with all stakeholders, we are proud to be part of this landmark project, which will play a crucial role in enhancing the capacity and resilience of health services across the Auckland and Northland regions for many years to come.