The Pacific Eye Institute, located in Suva, is the Pacific region’s first training facility for eye health professionals and is part of the Initiative of the Fred Hollows Foundation of New Zealand. Courses for post‐graduate students began earlier this year in the brand new, state of the art building which houses a fully‐equipped eye clinic, classrooms and resource centre.

The new building was completed in November last year. The general contractor responsible for designing and building it is Fiji’s leading construction company, Pacific Building Solutions (PBS). The building features the latest building techniques including pre‐cast concrete panels, polished concrete to provide a unique and elegant façade,
local hard wood carving accents and special glazing to ensure protection against adverse weather conditions.

The building stands as a testament to the management and success of Pacific Building Solutions who have completed the building within budget and 2 months ahead of schedule. “Our ability to complete this design and build project ahead of schedule was due to a great working relationship with the client and consultants as well as using quality sub contractors and suppliers. We couldn’t have accomplished this great feat
without their contribution and support,” said Michael Fishenden, General Manager of Construction for Pacific Building Solutions.

The sub contractors and consultants included Engineered Designs, Concrete Solutions, RC Manubhai, Glass & Mirror, Blueridge Plumbing, South Sea Electrical and project architect Alfonso Magarit of AM Management in Brisbane Australia. The special purpose building includes 2 controlled air procedure rooms, the first of its kind in Fiji. The ability to design and build such a highly specialised medical building is made possible because
of the specialised skill and capabilities of PBS’ health‐care team, led by Michael Fishenden, who combined have designed and built over $250,000,000 worth hospitals, eye clinics, nursing stations and medical training facilities throughout the south pacific.

Since the successful completion of the Pacific Eye institute, Pacific Building Solutions has been inundated with requests for upgrades and new works to many of the older medical buildings and facilities in Fiji. “We are delighted to be part of the next stage of development in Fiji healthcare. We are working closely with the Fiji School of Medicine, Fiji Government, the Fred Hollows Foundation and AUSAID on a number of new projects that will lift the standard of medical care facilities in Fiji. Our skill set and experience is
perfectly matched to these new challenges as our construction team has extensive experience building medical facilities in Australia and other south pacific countries” said Michael Fishenden.

Fiji is the most developed nation in the South Pacific and will continue to lead its neighbours in the development of health care services and with locally owned Fijian companies like PBS the future is bright.

The Fiji Times, September 27, 2012