Ground broken at new St John base

Ground has finally been broken on the much anticipated new St John ambulance station in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

The new base for the Goldfields region will take 44 weeks to complete and will be fully functional by the end of April.

Goldfields regional manager Andrew Hirst said the organisation had outgrown its base at Kalgoorlie Hospital.

“The new station will be bigger and better suited to our needs, ” Mr Hirst said.

The new regional centre will be built on the old Main Roads Department site on Great Eastern Highway in West Kalgoorlie.

Construction company Pindan will use the existing structures on the site to form the new ambulance station.

It will have six ambulance bays and a regional storage area for four-wheel-drive vehicle and spare ambulance storage as well as regional training facilities.

St John ambulance Kalgoorlie station manager Clint Martin said the new station would bring the Goldfields region up to standard with the Perth metropolitan ambulance service.

“We will have better IT and communication systems and all the regional managers will be based here, ” Mr Martin said.