3 minute read
Building better workplaces
Volunteers are benefiting from new and upgraded facilities, with a series of capital works projects creating safe, modern, fit-for-purpose operating environments and higher-quality unit assets.
Afour-year State Goverment funding package of more than $13 million is enabling MRNSW to embark on its first dedicated capital works program to ensure our volunteer workforce has safe, fit-for-purpose operating bases and other assets such as boat sheds and jetties.
With strong demand from units for funding for building works, the internal Facilities Development Program (FDP) developed in 2018-19 is guiding the strategic allocation of this capital funding to ensure expenditure is efficient, accountable and provides maximum benefit for both units and the community.
BUILDING WORKS The new $1.8 million Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie unit base and Search and Rescue Coordination Centre is the major construction project for 201920. Work began in April and was ahead of schedule on June 30, with an expected completion date in late September 2020. The base will provide the latest marine communications technology, dedicated operational command and control facilities, training and meeting space, storage for rescue equipment, offices, amenities and kitchen facilities, a viewing platform and a lift to improve access for volunteers living with disability.
MR Eden completed a $217,000 extension and upgrade of its base. Funding from the FDP enabled the exterior of the clifftop base to be fully clad and the interior gutted, refurbished and painted, with a new bathoom and kitchen, wall linings and floor coverings.
This followed an extension to add a new search and rescue coordination room and disabled access, funded with a $75,000 NSW Government Infrastructure grant.
Rescue vessel Norah Head 20 now has a roof over its head following the completion of MR Norah Head’s new $265,000 boat shed. A $140,835 My Community Projects grant, awarded after a public vote of support, was allocated towards the project cost, with the remainder from the FDP.
For the first time, MR Brunswick has a dedicated office, training and meeting facility. The $69,000 demountable complex is located in a prominent position between the boat harbour and the town’s busy boat ramp.
MR Port Stephens improved crew safety through the development of a $170,000 modern new vessel dock to replace its old, deteriorated jetty. Funding for the project came from a $50,000 Community Building Partnership grant and a $40,000 allocation from MRNSW Headquarters, with the balance from a generous benefactor and donations.
A new $100,000 crew room on a floating pontoon alongside its rescue vessel will improve MR Ballina’s response times; a new $258,000 jetty and pontoon has been developed to accommodate MR Merimbula’s two rescue vessels and provide safer access for crews; a $12,600 Clubs NSW grant assisted MR Tuggerah Lakes to install a new $56,500 pontoon and airlift and MR Central Coast replaced the boat ramp at its Terrigal Haven boat base, at a cost of $400,000, funded under an insurance claim.
The clifftop MR Eden base has undergone a $217,000 upgrade and extension to add a dedicated search and rescue coordination space.
Easy does it ... MR Ballina’s David Jordan watches as the unit’s new $100,000 crew room is lowered on to a pontoon next to Ballina 30.
Work began in April to repair serious damage to the MR Port Macquarie radio base caused by a large fire that started in the women’s toilets beneath the base in September 2019.
Work was completed on a project to upgrade MR Port Kembla’s Search and Rescue Coordination Centre at Hill 60, funded with a $164,080 Port Kembla Community Investment Fund grant. The project included a new observation deck, public access, building repairs and painting and an overhaul of the radio mast.
THE YEAR AHEAD Planning is well advanced on a series of projects to begin in the 2020-21 year, including new bases for MR Newcastle, Middle Harbour and Lord Howe Island; a relocation of the MR Terrey Hills communications hub to larger premises; and an over-water crew room for MR Narooma.
MRNSW is working with government and council agencies to identify new sites for both MR Hawkesbury and Broken Bay, which are operating from ageing, cramped and deteriorating premises.
BUILDING THE FUTURE
The new $1.8 million Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie base takes shape alongside the radio tower that has served the boating community well for decades.
