The story of Te Wao Nui

In July 2017, property developer Mark Dunajtschik made an extraordinarily generous donation of $50 million to build a new children's hospital in Wellington.

$10 million has also been funded by the Wellington Hospitals Foundation via the community to outfit and equip the interior of the new hospital. The Government committed an extra $45.6 million to the project to deliver a new purpose-built facility that allows us to provide high quality care to our young patients.

Designers, architects, clinical staff, and members of our community have been involved in this project from the outset – providing valuable feedback on the design and function of the building, and the needs of patients and whānau who will be using this facility.

The new hospital has been designed with tamariki, rangatahi and their whānau at the centre. ​With 50 inpatient beds, the new 7500 square-metre building on the northern reaches of the Wellington Regional Hospital campus is spread across three floors.

It brings child health services under one roof for the first time – allowing for the integration of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as encouraging clinical collaboration and communication. ​

The first of the four floors house state-of-the-art earthquake protection in the form of triple pendulum bearings, which means the building is effectively isolated from its foundations and can move up to 1.5 metres in any direction without damage during an earthquake.

Level two of the new hospital houses the children’s clinics and the child protection service, along with a café that is open during the day to the patients, staff and public. Level three houses the surgical ward and will be connected to Wellington Regional Hospital via a link bridge, allowing for easier flow of patients between surgery and their ward. The medical ward will be housed on level four. ​
The Wellington Children's Hospital is one of only five hospitals in the country that performs specialist paediatric surgery. It provides paediatric surgical services for our tamariki and rangatahi, as well as tamariki and rangatahi from Hutt Valley, Wairapapa, Manawatu, Whanganui, Hawkes Bay, Nelson and Marlborough.​​

Other formats

• Te Wao Nui – New Zealand Sign Language
• Te Wao Nui: Audio description transcript
• Te Wao Nui: Easy read version (Word)
• Te Wao Nui: Easy read version (pdf)

Te Whatu Ora Capital, Coast & Hutt Valley, Mana Whenua, with the Wellington Hospitals Foundation welcomed the Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro, Minister for Health, Andrew Little, philanthropists Mark Dunajtschik and Dorothy Spotswood, and other key donors and guests to celebrate one of the most significant capital investment projects for Child Health in Australasia.

Read more about the opening in our news release.

Young people and whanau began visiting level 2 for their outpatient appointments from Monday 17 October 2022. The following day we welcomed patients from Ward 2 of the old children's hospital to the new lighter, larger and private rooms on Kōwhai Ward.

Ten year-old Leyla and her mum Helen were our first patient/whānau who Tiaki welcomed into Te Wao Nui – a moment Leyla said she had been waiting a long time for. You can read Leyla's story in our news release.

The White Cedar Café on level 2 opened to patients, whānau, staff and the public on 6 November 2022. They are open from 7am - 5pm Monday to Friday and 9am - 5pm on weekends. 

On Tuesday 14 March 2023, we welcomed the patients from Ward one of the old children's hospital to the Piko Ward on level 4 of Te Wao Nui. Leyla and her mother were excited to be moving to their new room and loved how spacious and light the rooms were. 

This marked the closure of the old children's hospital as all the services and wards are now provided in Te Wao Nui.