It will also be available to other users, such as paramedical services and community health groups.
Now proposed to be eight storeys tall, it will be constructed just north of the outpatients building, on Cumberland St.
As reported by the Otago Daily Times in 2021, the approximate cost for the build according to a Cabinet paper was $51 million.
Documents obtained by the Otago Daily Times show the cost has risen to $115.5 million, excluding project contingency and land costs, with the possibility to increase.
A spokesman for the three partners said the project was still in the feasibility stage.
"Therefore the budget estimate continues to be developed.
"Changes in the budget estimate have included cost escalation and increases in space as well as reviews of additional costs including client costs, furniture, fixtures and equipment, IT, audiovisual, and contingencies."
The addition of two "Advanced Medical Learning" floors for the University of Otago added 3238sq m to the building, bringing the total combined floor space to 10,010sq m.
"The university is currently considering the additional floors in order to provide an increase of health sciences space adjacent to the new Dunedin Hospital, and this accounts for some of the increase in both construction costs and escalation within the budget estimate," the spokesman said.
A functional design brief was completed earlier this year to help with the design phase, which was yet to begin.
The project aimed to collaborate on the delivery of healthcare and education, which would create benefits including improved health outcomes for patients, the spokesman said.
Cost sharing arrangements have not as yet been agreed between the parties, the spokesman said.
The facility is planned to be operational by 2027, but no date was given for a start of construction.
Project steering group convener Pete Hodgson said the cost had never been $51 million, a figure he believed was somebody’s guesswork.
He estimated the starting point was about $60 million.
Discounting the two additional floors, it would now be about about $72 million, he said.
"The cost of building the thing is not yet known, and it’s entirely possible its size will change in response to any increase in costs."
In early 2023, an update of costs would be provided, and the parties would reconsider the design if they did not agree to those costs, he said.
"It’s a very, very exciting project and one that I think is going to be very good for the production of high quality health science graduates in Dunedin, and therefore good for New Zealand as well as Dunedin."
