Like so many local babies, Wānaka’s new primary birthing unit has arrived much more quickly than originally anticipated.

The Southern District Health Board (SDHB) has paid an undisclosed amount for an eight-bedroom, 545sqm residence on 6,196sqm on Monteith Road in Albert Town.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) has granted consent to establish a four bed primary birthing unit at the site. 

The purchase comes just a month after the SDHB told the Wānaka App it had hired architecture firm Jasmax to design a new birthing unit in Wānaka.

Read more: Design underway for Wānaka’s new birthing unit

Details on operation

The SDHB did not respond to a request for comment on the purchase but the listing details suggest the substantial property is well equipped for its future use.

The building is made up of two interconnected dwellings, each with its own open plan kitchen, living and dining room. The first dwelling has five bedrooms and five bathrooms (plus a half bath, second dining room, large laundry and office) and the second has another three bedrooms and one bathroom.

Among the property’s many advantages is plenty of parking. 

In its application to QLDC the SDHB said the residence would remain “largely untouched”.

There will be a maximum of four women staying within the unit at any one time, as well as a maximum of three midwives on shift, the SDHB said.

“Based on similar Primary Maternity Units there will be one to two babies delivered per week. Most women staying postnatally are transferred back from a secondary hospital to complete their postnatal care closer to home.”

Years of lobbying

In June 2021 the SDHB agreed to establish a birthing unit in Wānaka and another in Central Otago (located at Dunstan Hospital in Clyde). The Clyde unit will replace Alexandra’s Charlotte Jean Maternity Hospital.

The decision followed a long process and much advocacy from local groups, including local Lead Maternity Care (LMC) midwives and the Save Our Wānaka Midwives group, for a primary birthing unit (equipped for supporting healthy women with no medical complications through labour, birth, and in-patient postnatal care) in Wānaka. 

Wānaka women currently face an hour’s drive to the nearest primary birthing unit (Charlotte Jean) or a three and a half hour drive to Dunedin Hospital

The SDHB said in its application it had identified the Monteith St property and proposed it become the new Wānaka Primary Birthing Unit “after extensive searching and consultation with council and government”.

The substantial property has eight bedrooms

Application approved without notification

The newly purchased property at 4 Monteith Road (just off SH6 on the way to Hook restaurant) is currently consented to operate as a five bedroom lodge, with an existing visitor accommodation consent for up to 12 people, 365 days per year. 

The council said its new role as a birthing unit “would not result in any additional increase in traffic effects”. The SDHB said most women will arrive at and leave the site via private vehicle, with ambulances only required in emergency situations. 

The application was not publicly notified despite it being a non-complying activity under the Proposed District Plan (PDP). The site is zoned Rural Residential and the proposed activity (a ‘community activity’ with a health use) is not provided for or anticipated in that zone, but the council noted it would be “relatively small scale” and would “largely continue to appear as a residential unit from a visual perspective”. 

Council planners said they considered the proposal would not result in adverse effects on the character of the environment that are more than minor. 

The SDHB has not settled the Monteith Road property yet, so the price remains confidential. 

The SDHB had not responded to questions about when the facility would open at the time of publication.

PHOTOS: Sothebys Realty