A 'topping out' ceremony was held for the Mudgee Hospital redevelopment project, as the scale of the new facility becomes clearer.
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The building tradition celebrates the highest point of construction, and is a ritual dating back to ancient Egypt and was also adopted by Scandinavian and British cultures, as well as being part of the Native American belief that no building should be taller than a tree.
Health services manager for Mudgee Hospital, Caren Harrison, said, "the staff are really excited, it's coming to actually life now, you can physically see the size of the building."
Mudgee Health Council chair John Bentley also took the tour, and said, "it's remarkable and being up here today you just realise the size of the place, on paper it just doesn't look as large".
Katie Babula, project director, said, "currently we're on track to complete the main building in 2020, which will be followed by landscaping and carpark works".
Western NSW Local Health District director of Corporate Services, Jeff Morrissey, added, "as we stand here literally on top of the Mudgee Hosptial today, it's an ideal time to reflect on this achievement".
"It's been an been a great team effort over the past four years of planning and delivering to get to this point," he said. "It is always a very challenging, but very important task to get this right.
"Everyone is now witnessing what this place is going to look like and seeing the hard work that's gone on to date - the progress is quite literally outstanding. I think the people of Mudgee and the surrounding district will be absolutely chuffed when we get this done and officially open the doors."
