The finishing touches are being put on the state's landmark $134 million ambulance service headquarters and brand-new Adelaide Ambulance Station, with crews starting work from the new site next week.
The city-fringe ambulance precinct, on Richmond Road at Mile End South, will replace the ageing and outdated Greenhill Road headquarters site, delivering a key Malinauskas Government election commitment.
It includes a 6,700 square metre two-storey ambulance Emergency Operations Centre, including a State Health Coordination Centre, and a 1,500 square metre Adelaide Ambulance Station and garage.
The station opens next Monday November 10, as a base for two emergency teams, totalling 32 paramedics, and four new ambulances. They will be joined in 2026 by a further 24 paramedics and fleet relocated from the nearby Ashford station.
The two emergency teams that will start working from the Adelaide station next week have been delivered as part of the Malinauskas Labor Government's commitment for more ambos across South Australia. More than 300 extra ambos have joined SA Ambulance since March 2022.
Key features of the precinct include secure 24/7 operations, post disaster functionality and integrated Triple Zero (000) emergency call and dispatch capabilities.
The new HQ – which will open next month – will become home to the State Health Coordination Centre, temporarily operating out of Tonsley, to deliver a round-the-clock system-wide overview of patient movements and hospital capacity.
The purpose-designed headquarters will house the state's team of highly skilled Triple Zero (000) call-takers and dispatchers, with room to grow staff and infrastructure in the future. There will also be dedicated rooms for training and handling major incidents including natural disasters, large-scale accidents, and outbreaks.
Three additional non-emergency crews will also move to the Adelaide Station from their temporary home at Glengowrie, where they will continue their work, which includes facilitating the timely inter-facility transfer of South Australians from Adelaide's tertiary hospitals, back to the support of their home communities.
Strategically located on Richmond Road near the South Road intersection, the station will provide critical emergency medical support to the CBD and Adelaide's inner western and southern suburbs.
The new station features purpose-built training and meeting spaces, a kitchen, rest areas, office accommodation, and garaging for nine ambulances and two light fleet.
It's one of 24 brand-new, upgraded or completely rebuilt ambulance stations being delivered by the Malinauskas Labor Government. The Adelaide station is the twelfth new or rebuilt station opened by the Government, following stations opening at Edwardstown, Norwood, Woodville, Port Augusta, Hawker, Birdwood, Strathalbyn, Mount Barker, Golden Grove, Victor Harbor and Gawler.
The precinct's physical layout means that, in addition to large meeting rooms and open plan workspaces, there are also bespoke spaces for confidential telehealth consultations with and for vulnerable patients, where clinicians can work and liaise in privacy.
Staff wellbeing has been a key consideration in the precinct's design, with dedicated bicycle storage, locker room and changing facilities, breakout spaces and quiet rooms for staff working long shifts undertaking high-intensity critical work supporting Triple Zero (000) callers.
The Precinct is a vast improvement in provision of building and technical infrastructure that is earthquake proof and can continue to operate if essential services such as power and water supply are temporarily not available. It also has a lot of technical infrastructure that is built with redundancy and state-of-the-art systems in the event the primary infrastructure is compromised.
On average during the 2024-25 financial year, SAAS received more than 900 Triple Zero (000) calls each day, compared with more than 780 Triple Zero (000) calls per day in 2021-22.
During the same period 21,271 more people received a lights-and-sirens response on time compared with 2021-22.
An Adelaide Station Open Day will be held from 2pm to 4pm next Sunday 9 November, where members of the public are invited to tour the new station.
As put by Peter Malinauskas
This new SAAS headquarters and Adelaide Ambulance Station is a key plank in our huge investment in the ambulance service, which is improving response times and saving lives.
It delivers a key election commitment and provides a tailor-made home for our hard-working ambos and Triple Zero call-takers to continue saving the lives of South Australians.
We are also delivering a state-first health coordination centre equipped with a 24/7 overview of system demand for Local Health Networks and ambulances.
As put by Chris Picton
This state-of-the-art ambulance precinct is a huge win for our ambos and South Australians.
Our amazing Triple Zero call-takers and dispatchers coordinating life-saving ambulance responses currently operate from a facility that is outdated and inadequate. Our new precinct fixes that.
The Adelaide Ambulance Station is one of 24 brand-new, upgraded or completely rebuilt ambulance stations being delivered by the Malinauskas Labor Government.
As put by SAAS Chief Executive Officer Rob Elliott
The new Adelaide station within the Precinct adds to the strategic staging of ambulance capacity for the CBD and extends the support for those who support our communities.
It has been thoughtfully designed to provide an education hub for our highly trained crews, as well as the day-to-day facilities they need to deliver exceptional care.
Being located on Richmond Road means our emergency crews will have immediate access to both east-west and the vital north south corridor road networks, further enhancing their ability to respond quickly to emergencies in the community, and support non-emergency transport demand in the major health facilities in the nearby area.
Both buildings that comprise the entire Precinct will be fully operational by the end of the year – a significant moment for SAAS in its long history of serving South Australia.
