Dennis Farley and Miles Coverdale

Warrnambool’s former ambulance station will become the new home for Westvic Staffing Solutions.

The employment and training agency has purchased the Koroit Street property and plans to demolish the existing building and construct a new purpose-built facility on the site.

CEO Miles Coverdale said it was an ideal site for the expanding organisation.

“We are drawing up plans for a new two-storey building which will be able to carry us well into the future,” Mr Coverdale said.

“The configuration gives us plenty of street frontage which will make access easy for clients. The site has great proximity to the CBD, access from at least two roads and plenty of space for car parking and further expansion if needed,” he said.

Westvic Staffing Solutions purchased the 1853 square metre site for $1.27 million. It hopes to secure building permits from Warrnambool City Council early in 2012 and to start construction shortly after.

It is hoped the new building will be ready for use by March 2013. In the meantime the organisation will continue to operate from its base at the corner of Lava and Kepler streets.

The new building will increase Westvic’s floor capacity by 50 per cent. The existing basement area will be retained but the upper levels demolished to make way for a new building designed to suit the organisation’s needs.

“It will allow us to better integrate our services and improve customer contact areas,” Mr Coverdale said. “The design will include training space and areas for use by other community organisations.”

At this stage it is planned to retain car parking at the rear for staff and clients, although the large block allows scope for expanding the building if needed. “We anticipate we will be able to meet our requirements on the existing building footprint but there is an option to expand at a later date if needed,” Mr Coverdale said.

Constructed in the late 1950s the building was always used as a base for the ambulance service before the service’s relocation to Raglan Parade last year.

Mr Coverdale said Westvic would look at ways to recognise the ambulance connection.  “We hope to source some historic photos of the building for a display in our new premises,” he said. “It has been an important part of Warrnambool’s recent history and we are pleased as another community-based organisation to follow the ambulance service.”

Westvic Staffing Solutions began in 1984 through an initiative of the then Camperdown Town Council. It was then known as Western District Group Apprentices.  The fledgling organisation then moved to Warrnambool in 1985 to be closer to trade training facilities and was auspiced by Warrnambool City Council from that year to 1993 when it relocated to its present site at 171 Lava Street.

Westvic has 40 employees in Warrnambool and also has offices in Portland, Hamilton and Colac.

Mr Coverdale said the current building had served the organisation well and had allowed for Westvic’s business expansion. He added that Westvic’s Board of directors had for some time been keen for the organisation to create its own purpose built facility and had been searching for a suitable site for many years.