A new Starlight Express Room for sick children at Canberra Hospital.

Building to give back.

Making a positive impact on our community is at the heart of RCC’s culture. We strongly believe our business, and the wider construction industry, has a responsibility to contribute to building positive, resilient communities.

We were privileged to work with the Starlight Children‘s Foundation on the recent refurbishment of the Starlight Express Room at John Hunter Children’s Hospital in Newcastle. Now, we’re thrilled to be working with them again to fit-out the Starlight Express Room at Canberra Hospital. Uniting with talented industry partners at cost price to transform the hospital experiences of sick kids and their families to create a community within the hospital that provides a sense of escape and a feeling of stepping out onto your back deck.

Starlight is Australia’s broadest-reaching children’s charity with Starlight Express Room’s in every children’s hospital around the country. Hospital can be a scary place if you’re a kid and Starlight Express Rooms are filled with fun and laughter and feel a world away from the reality of hospital. It’s where Captain Starlight helps kids forget about everything they’re going through and just be kids.

Once the refurbishment is complete, sick kids and their families will enjoy a completely transformed space that features a new children’s play area, parent’s lounge area, video game play zone and outdoor zone.

Shining a light on refurbishment works at John Hunter Children’s Hospital

Measuring the positive impact of previous Starlight Express Room refurbishment works is important to RCC and our passionate delivery partners. Our friends at Starlight helped shed some light on the impact of these works on the local Newcastle community.

At any one time, two Captain Starlight’s are working from the John Hunter Children’s Hospital’s Starlight Express Room, with additional Captains working on the wards doing ‘Rocket Rounds’ to visit kids who may be too unwell to leave their beds.

In 2022, Captain Starlight created over 2000 positive experiences for sick kids, in the newly refurbished room. From arts and crafts to video games and visits from VIP’s the Starlight Express Room provides a space to keep sick kids and teens of all ages happy and distracted. It also provides a physical space for Starlight to film and produce daily segments for ‘Starlight TV’ which is broadcast to sick kids across the hospital and those too unwell to visit the Starlight Express Room. In 2022, Starlight launched an online home for Captain Starlight, Planet Starlight. As a live and fully interactive platform, Planet Starlight connects hospitalised kids with the fun of Captain Starlight, anywhere, anytime. Some of the live shows are broadcast online from the team in the John Hunter Children’s Hospital Starlight Express Room.

Projects like these are the cornerstone of our commitment to our community. By supporting our charity partners through the delivery of outcomes beyond the build environment, we leave a meaningful and lasting legacy. Thank you to all the generous and talented local contractors and consultants who will help us deliver this rewarding project.