HMRI Magnetic Resonance Imaging Centre

Location: Newcastle, NSW

Architect: DWP Suters

Photos: Izzat

Izzat Consulting provided structural and civil engineering services for a new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) centre at the Hunter Medical Research Institute in Newcastle.

The centre boasts the most advanced scanning technology in the Southern Hemisphere and houses a Siemens Magnetom Prisma 3T MRI unit, the first of its kind in Australia, along with an Agilent pathology magnet and an EEG device to measure electrical activity of the brain.

Critical design considerations included foundations above the Victoria Coal seam, stringent foundation vibration and settlement tolerances for the MRI units as well as coordination of magnetic field zones that limit steel and reinforcement contents and exclusion zones.