IRT chair Peter Fitzgerald, CEO Ross Gallagher, Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown and SHAPE general manager James Fitzgerald mark the start of major works at Diment. Photo: Keeli Dyson.
The inside of Wollongong’s Diment Towers has been stripped out with work now beginning to give the historic building new life and bring more opportunities for senior residents.
Major works are now underway in a $45 million refurbishment of IRT’s longest operating seniors living community, with the Diment redevelopment officially starting.
“It’s very exciting to see it start to come into fruition,” IRT CEO Ross Gallagher said. “It’s obviously very important to us because it’s where our story started.”
The 55-year-old site will be redeveloped into 102 independent living apartments consisting of a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom layouts.
Although works include more modern upgrades to the facade and interiors, the iconic structure will continue to pay homage to its important history.
“I think there’s a lot of people around that still remember this building; there’s a lot of people around that still either worked on it or had some sort of personal association with it,” Ross said.
“So it’s great to be able to keep that legacy but obviously we want to preserve it for the next 50 years as well.
“We know how desperately we need more seniors living so I’m really pleased that this hasn’t been lost to the community and that IRT are putting in the investment to give it a glow-up and make sure that we have beautiful new homes for our seniors in a perfect location,” Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown said.
“It is part of our history; that hexagon building has been a landmark here so seeing that preserved I think is a lovely tribute.”
The 17 existing residents were transferred to other IRT locations late last year, with the size and priorities of the aged care organisation allowing them to stay relatively close to their homes, families and communities.
“Being community owned we’re very mindful of doing the right thing by our residents so I think that’s a really important part of it,” Ross said.
“It’s big logistics to move people out; at one stage we were actually seeing whether we could keep the residents in but it just wouldn’t be a great environment.”
That ongoing connection to community is a vital element of the plan to upgrade the site, which is near the Wollongong CBD, transport routes and, crucially, health facilities.
“Our seniors absolutely deserve high-quality facilities and we want people to be able to live in their own homes longer,” Cr Brown said.
“We know the issues with bed block the impacts it’s having on the health system, so keeping people in their homes with the services that they need to support them is vitally important. And we’re never going to solve the aged care crisis if everyone’s sitting in a waiting room in the hospital.”
Fostering relationships within the site itself has also been a key consideration in the design.
“This one is quite unique, even though with some of the units and the studios aren’t massively big there is a fantastic common area, there’s a swimming pool at the back as well, so it’s something that really encourages to bring people together and interact together, and I think as people get older that’s massively important,” Ross said.
While sods have just officially been turned, construction company SHAPE has already been preparing for the next big stage.
“So far we’ve done all the soft strip out, SHAPE’s NSW general manager James Fitzgerald said.
“Soft strip out involves essentially removing all the internal walls, all the linings, floor and ceiling linings and we’ve actually removed all the services throughout, so plumbing, electrical, all the mechanical equipment, that’s all come down and it’s basically shell now, the structure.
“The next stage will be starting to commence putting the services back through the core; once we do that we’ll be able to put the facade on.”
Existing scaffolding will conceal the extent of much of the work until later this year, with practical works anticipated to be completed by early 2027, with limited reasons for delay.
“Certainly weather could have an effect, that would be the main element,” James said. “But procurement is secured, subcontractors are secured, the supply chain is there, all the authority approvals are done; it’s about building it and working through to make sure that we execute it.”
The project is part of IRT’s commitment to deliver more than 1000 new homes for senior residents across the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and South Coast over the next decade, with more beds at its Unanderra site already underway.
“We know bed block is such a significant issue here and I know it won’t alleviate it fully but 48 beds will be a good start and the refurbishment of 80 beds down there as well will just make sure that whole site is fit for purpose moving well into the future,” Ross said.
To find out more about Diment visit the IRT website.
