Toowoomba Hospital's $560M expansion reaches structural completion

The $560 million expansion of Toowoomba Hospital has reached structural completion on its main tower addition, with the concrete framing completed and glazing and external cladding works now the primary construction focus on the project that will significantly expand the clinical capacity of Queensland's largest regional hospital west of the Great Dividing Range.

The expansion includes a new eight-storey clinical tower with expanded surgical, intensive care, and medical inpatient capacity, a purpose-built cancer centre that will provide radiation therapy and systemic treatment services that currently require Darling Downs patients to travel to Brisbane or the Gold Coast, and an expanded emergency department that will address the overcrowding that has characterised Toowoomba Hospital's ED during peak demand periods.

Queensland Health's Darling Downs district chief executive Dr Jean-Claude Lamy said the structural milestone was "a visible symbol of the transformation of healthcare for the people of inland Queensland," noting that the cancer centre alone would eliminate the 500-kilometre Brisbane round-trip that many Darling Downs cancer patients currently make for routine treatment cycles.

The hospital construction program has generated more than $180 million in procurement for Toowoomba and Darling Downs businesses over the three years since construction commenced, with the project's local content strategy having prioritised local suppliers and subcontractors in all categories where competitive quality and price was available from the regional business community.

The first clinical services in the new tower are expected to open in mid-2027, with the full suite of expanded services including the cancer centre operational by end 2027.

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