St John Cromwell – Protecting the community into the future
Since 1885, St John has been a vital part of the fabric of all communities throughout Aotearoa, helping enrich health and wellbeing. As well as being New Zealand’s most trusted charity, St John is at the frontline of New Zealand medical response, providing Ambulance Services to 90% of the country. In fact, the St John service attends nearly 390,000 emergency incidents and treats and transports over 460,000 people every year – no mean feat!
Three years ago, St John began discussions on the future of ambulance services in Cromwell and what was needed to support the wider area, in particular the risk of “significant” earthquakes and how it would impact its infrastructure and ability to run an ambulance service. The outcome? A brand new ambulance station which we at Ulti Group, are thrilled to have been involved in.
Cromwell is one of the fastest growing areas in New Zealand and St John recognised the need to be able to house more staff and vehicles in the future, St John Ambulance territory manager Central Otago David Baillie said – “For Cromwell we needed to build a building that future-proofed us for 50 years. That’s what we’ve done.” It now houses the area’s two ambulances as well as 24 fulltime, casual and volunteer staff.
Built to Impact Level 4 (IL4), the 574sqm hub was designed to withstand a significant seismic event and still be able to function as a hub for ambulance services. As David Baillie highlights, “This build, being IL4, can handle a significant earthquake and we can still use the building and function out of it as an ambulance service, and a point we can work from in a massive emergency like an earthquake.”
Considering this, our Insulated Emergency Services Sectional Doors were the perfect fit for helping ensure the station is futureproofed for the local community heading into the future.
Designed and manufactured with the aid of cutting-edge technologies, these doors are well suited for when robust performance and reliability really count. From a functional aspect, their high speed can make all the difference to emergency response turn out times whilst eliminating the possibility of door collisions.
More importantly, however, the uniquely designed hardware system includes floating rollers and generous operational clearances for the standard door components. This means that it is still able to be operated, even after a significant natural disaster or similar event, both meeting and exceeding the NZ government’s IL4 requirements when incorporated into an IL4 rated building or structure as the Cromwell station is.
And the possibilities are limitless in design. For St John Cromwell, apart from being manufactured in a brilliant Yellow which we have to admit, looks stunning against the black building, these doors also included a Vision Section to allow light in and to provide enhanced visibility for Ambulance staff, as well as a Ventilated Panel to still allow airflow.
Get the full story on the project here: https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/new-st-john-hub-celebrates-hard-work
Or if you’re interested in finding out more about the doors, reach out to our friendly experts to find out how we can help you!
We’re Ulti Group – Protecting what matters.
