Multiple construction sites in progress at Dunedin Hospital are like "a big decanting jigsaw", Southern District Health Board facilities and site development manager Warren Taylor says.
The 16-project, $24.38 million "mastersite" development of Dunedin and Wakari hospitals is in full swing, with much of the work focused on the Dunedin site at present.
Several services and key staff have shifted to new permanent homes up the hill - such as the acute mental health ward, which relocated to Wakari in January.
Under construction at Dunedin Hospital is the emergency department's observation unit, which will have 10 beds, including two isolation rooms. It is scheduled to open in about July.
Opened on Wednesday, public cafe Wishbone is in a different spot to its predecessor, Muffin Break, because of the observation unit development.
With an entrance directly to Great King St, it is likely to have greater patronage because the new staff cafeteria opening in about August will no longer be open to the public.
That development is also in a different place - on what was known as the pebble garden - with the former cafe having made way for the paediatrics and neonatal intensive care unit.
The ward, which will take up to a year to build starting early next year, also removes the Southern District Health Board board room and executive offices. The chief executive and her key staff move to Wakari in July or August, where a new boardroom will be set up.
Partial demolition has started in the vacated acute mental health ward at Dunedin Hospital, where 29 offices and meeting rooms are being built.
The DHB was "exactly where we need to be", with four projects completed, and five in progress, Mr Taylor said.
The project, the first stage of a broader redevelopment, will be finished at the end of next year.
Staff had been "fantastic" about the disruption to their work environment.
Acting chief operating officer (Otago) Megan Boivin said noise and other disruptions posed challenges to staff, who had coped very well.
She said the new staff cafe would be closed to the public because staff asked for that during consultation. The cafe will include computers and couches.
