Progressing your new Lidcombe Wellbeing Centre

We held a ‘topping out’ ceremony at our Lidcombe Wellbeing Centre construction site in December, marking a significant milestone for the project. In building construction, a topping out (or topping off) is a builders' rite, traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction. It marks a major milestone for everyone on the project, signifying the groundwork having been laid and the project being on track for completion.

Work on our new wellbeing centre at Lidcombe in NSW has been underway since early April 2023, including site preparation completed in May and structural works that commenced in July last year.

Attendees at the December event included key project personnel: MS Plus Board Directors Garry Whatley, Adriana Zuccala (Project Chair) and Des Graham, together with the project's builders, architects and project managers. The ceremony was held at the project’s highest point (Level 3 of the SDA) and provided a great opportunity for everyone to get a real sense of the progress being made,

Once complete, the Lidcombe Wellbeing Centre will deliver an advanced, tailored facility for people with neurological conditions, their loved ones and healthcare teams. The new site will be located not far from the current Studdy MS Centre, first opened in 1985 as The Western Region MS Centre.

The new wellbeing centre is being created specifically to help clients feel at home and part of a larger community. To help us achieve this, we are remodelling the existing centre into a more collaborative and inclusive therapeutic space, focused on addressing your physical, emotional, cognitive needs.

The masterplan vision for the Lidcombe MS Wellbeing Centre is to create a vibrant, nurturing, active, safe and accessible therapy space for our community.

The $37 million project was officially launched with a sod turning event in August 2022, with the new centre expected to open in late 2024. We would like to acknowledge the important involvement of the NSW Government, whose generous support was vital to getting this project off the ground.

What will the Lidcombe Wellbeing Centre offer?

• 19, 2-bedroom units providing a mixture of long and short-term onsite accommodation for clients and their families
• Large open space lounge and café area
• A larger, purpose-built gym with air conditioning
• DDA compliant change facilities
• 8 therapy areas, including designated areas for consultation and treatment
• A large multipurpose space for classes, workshops, presentations, events and group activities, convertible into two smaller spaces if needed
• A ‘sensory garden’ in an open courtyard, kids play area, level access for all areas, undercover parking and landscaped outdoor spaces

Services at Lidcombe:

• Physiotherapy
• Occupational Therapy
• Dietetics
• Exercise physiology
• Employment support
• Support coordination
• Plan management

Together with services funded by Western Sydney Local Health District:

• Peer support
• Continence
• Connect team Key Workers
• NDIS engagement support

The project is currently on track for completion in October 2024.