Balbuk Bidi Watling Walk and Retail Precinct Renewal Project

Watling Walk and the E Block Retail Precinct are both having facelifts! 

Work on renewing the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital’s main north-south corridor and re-activating the Retail Precinct began on 5 August 2021. The E Street corridor has now been added to the schedule of works.

Watling Walk will also gain a new name and will now be known as Balbuk Bidi Watling Walk. The Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Committee completed a dual-naming project in 2020 for some areas at SCGH, including Balbuk Bidi Watling Walk.

Balbuk Bidi is named in recognition of Fanny Balbuk Yooreel, who was a prominent Noongar Whadjuk woman, known for her unwavering commitment for maintaining her land right. Balbuk would walk the track between her birth site and the railway station, regardless of any new obstacles, buildings or fences. 

The Balbuk Bidi Watling Walk works include new flooring, painting walls and refreshing some displays along the corridor. The Tree of Life will also be relocated from G Street to Balbuk Bidi Watling Walk adjacent to the Retail Precinct. 

The Retail Precinct works also include new flooring plus a shell fit out of four tenancies in preparation for new tenants. 

The result will be a new, vibrant hub for Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and a contemporary feel to Balbuk Bidi Watling Walk. 

What to expect from the works

There will be hoarding walls in place along Balbuk Bidi Watling Walk during the works to reduce the dust produced. There will be minimal noise disruption, but the works will include light grinding of the floor to prepare for the tiles and carpet. Some glue smell may also occur during the laying period. The retail precinct and E Street flooring will also be installed in the same way. 

The retail precinct tenancy works involve substantial demolition and some noisy works. These works will be behind a hard hoarding, so the interface with staff, patients and visitors will be minimal. 

Program of Works

The works will be done in stages to allow Balbuk Bidi Watling Walk and E Street to remain open for use, with some restrictions and temporary changes during each stage. 

The works in Balbuk Bidi Watling Walk are expected to take between 7 and 10 working days for each stage, beginning around the Charlies Foundation area then radiating outwards towards the Blue Lifts first, then towards A, E and DD, B, C and D Blocks. 

Each area affected by the works will receive direct communication about the changes and temporary restrictions. 

The works in the retail precinct and E Street flooring will tie-in with the Balbuk Bidi Watling Walk schedule, which will allow access to be maintained to retail areas and exits for most of the time, with some temporary closures and changes to evacuation routes for some areas. 

Please look out for these changes when they are communicated to your Departments and areas. 

Schedule of works at 19 August 2021

Balbuk Bidi Watling Walk

Twelve stages

Retail Precinct

Seven stages

E Street Flooring – dates and areas to be confirmed

Four stages

For more information about the refurbishment work, please contact Janet Preston, Senior Project Officer, Development, North Metropolitan Health Service (08) 6457 1942 or janet.preston@health.wa.gov.au.