BendigoWeekly www.bendigoweekly.com.au
ISSUE 1033 FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2017
Cheer for the beer ART gallery curator Jessica Bridgfoot has her eye on the new exhibition at the Post Office Gallery, Taverns to Temperance: The Pubs of Bendigo, which opens today.
HEALTH CHECK – Story Page 16
Photo: ANDREW PERRYMAN
By SHARON KEMP
Hospital building manager unqualified
BENDIGO Health will correct four consecutive annual reports after being notified by the state’s building authority former construction manager Adam Hardinge has no Victorian registered building qualifications. And while insisting he had not misrepresented his qualifications, Mr Hardinge yesterday told the Bendigo Weekly of his regret about
his behaviour during four years of employment at Bendigo Health which led to his conviction and fining in 2016 on nine theft and deception charges. “If I look back, I did some really stupid things,” he said, adding that it was a culture at the time in the construction industry. “I have to wake up each morning and deal with that.”
EXCLUSIVE
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Mr Hardinge was first employed by Bendigo Health in 2011 to manage demolition works on the site of the new $630 million hospital. He is listed in the 2010-11 annual report as director of capital projects and as being a domestic builder unlimited and a commercial builder unlimited, accreditations administered by the Victorian Building Authority.
Cash cam jackpot – Page 3
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Mr Hardinge was listed in the next three annual reports with the same qualifications but as the construction manager of the new Bendigo hospital. In a letter obtained by the Bendigo Weekly, the VBA notes Mr Hardinge did not require a building registration to act in the roles because the building permits issued for the new hospital list Bendigo
Health as the owner builder. Bendigo Health engaged Exemplar Health, a consortium that includes construction giant Lend Lease, to build the hospital. But the VBA found Bendigo Health’s annual reports were wrong to include the qualifications next to Mr Hardinge’s name. “Should Mr Hardinge have held out as being a registered building practitioner in the state of Victoria, Bendigo Health can refer this matter to the VBA as a complaint,” the letter states. Continued Page 6
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