Contractors working on the new Dunedin hospital have been given an indication that the Cadbury site will be built on.
It remains unclear, however, if ministers have given the green light for a build rather than a refit of the existing ward block, or when work might start on a build.
A key subcontractor meeting is also understood to have gone ahead yesterday, but what happened in it remains under wraps.
No one in government would comment on the decision-making process or the meeting.
Officials from Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) referred the Otago Daily Times to Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop, outgoing Health Minister Shane Reti and his replacement Simeon Brown.
None replied. Mr Bishop's office said an answer should be sought from HNZ.
Last September, Mr Bishop and Dr Reti ordered a review of the build and indicated only two possible options were being considered in order to cut costs.
The review, which has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, considered a slimmed-down rebuild on the Cadbury site or a refit of Dunedin hospital's ailing Ward Block.
A refit had previously been rejected after experts said it was expensive and impractical.
In October, it was suggested that the sixth floor of the proposed build would be dropped to save money.
Hospital campaigners at the time said any reduction of the project's design would impact care provision.
Last month, the Otago Daily Times reported HNZ officials were recommending ministers go ahead with a hospital build on the former Cadbury factory site, although it was unclear whether the recommendation endorsed any deviation from the original design.
The recommendation was understood to be in a paper for Dr Reti and Mr Bishop.
An announcement was expected but has yet to be made by the ministers.
Dr Reti lost the health portfolio last weekend in a National Party caucus reshuffle.
He has been replaced by Mr Brown.
HNZ said yesterday the government's reconsideration of options had cost $307,550.61 in consultant fees billed to date.
Consultancy firms Rawlinsons, TSA Riley, Holmes, Beca and Sapere were undertaking the work.
The firms had looked at cost estimating, health planning, structural and services engineering and an economic analysis.
The costings were provided in response to an Official Information Act (OIA) request.
Other OIA requests have been refused or delayed, with repeated promises information would be made available to journalists and there would be an imminent decision about the hospital.
Hospital campaigner and former Labour health minister Pete Hodgson, who previously chaired a committee governing the hospital build, said the idea of reconsidering refurbishing the current Ward Block was "never a starter. It was only ever a time-wasting distraction".
"The key issue is whether any proposed cuts [to the design of the in-patient building on the Cadbury site] are clinically acceptable.
"The inpatient block as currently designed is eminently fit for purpose, and is already lean," he said.
"Any cuts beyond that may compromise clinical safety."
Mr Hodgson said the cost of the reconsideration was much bigger than that spent on consultants.
The amount failed to include the time spent on the reconsideration by HNZ civil servants, "down time" while the hospital project office awaited a decision, the cost of keeping the lights on in the ailing existing hospital or the social cost of delay, "which cannot easily be expressed in dollars".
