A sod-turning ceremony was recently held to celebrate the start of construction of RSPCA South Australia's new Animal Care Campus, located within Glenthorne National Park at O'Halloran Hill.
South Australian construction company Cook Building was selected from more than 40 construction companies interested in taking on the iconic project, that includes the state's first dedicated 24-hour wildlife hospital. (The seven-hectare site is being leased to RSPCA SA by the State Government at a peppercorn rate for the next 70 years.)
Foundations are due to be poured next month, with the first buildings going up in July. Landscape architects from Adelaide-based Wax Designs are also helping to transform the barren site, with plans that include the planting of 1500 indigenous trees. Aside from providing shade and habitat for birds, many of these trees will provide food for native animals while they are under veterinary care at the wildlife hospital.
Proceeds from last year's sale of RSPCA SA's animal shelter at Lonsdale and administration centre at Stepney are contributing to the $28m construction cost, but the charity needs community donations to meet a $3m shortfall.
Located on the north-west corner of the South and Majors Roads intersection, the campus will bring all RSPCA staff, volunteers and animals on to the one site for the first time. In addition to the wildlife hospital, it will have best-practise animal accommodation and care facilities for the 9000-plus animals that come into the organisation's care each year and is destined to become an educational hub for advancing animal welfare standards across the state.
RSPCA SA's CEO Marcus Gehrig welcomed the appointment of Cook Building as a significant milestone for the rapidly evolving organisation, which will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2025.
"This fully integrated Animal Care Campus will be a game-changer," Mr Gehrig said.
"It will, for the first time, enable us to care for a far more diverse range of species, and it will be somewhere our community of animal lovers will want to come, to learn and take up opportunities for making real differences to animals' lives.
"We're delighted that Cook Building, with its track record for delivering quality constructions on time and on budget and its willingness to enter a philanthropic partnership with RSPCA, is now spearheading this landmark development.
"Our Lonsdale teams, in particular, are relieved to have just one more winter to get through - the kennels flooded so badly on a night last November that staff had to rescue some of our dogs, and it's a battle to keep them cool during heatwaves.
"At the new campus, our animals will enjoy climate-controlled accommodation - it will be like the Ritz compared to the current facilities, which are well and truly obsolete."
More than 500 people will be employed on site during construction, which is scheduled for completion by February 2024. Until then RSPCA SA will continue to operate out of the Stepney and Lonsdale sites on a leaseback arrangement with the properties' new owners.
