Work to build a combined storage unit and emergency incident management room behind the Twizel Police Station began in February, after the project received a $40,000 grant from the Meridian Energy Waitaki Community Fund.
Rob Davis, who is chairman of both Mackenzie Landsar and South Canterbury Landsar, said this week he hoped the base would be ''all going'' by the end of October.
''We have the floor slab down, but due to the temperature we haven't poured the porch outside. All the main structure is ready to be assembled, but again, because it has been winter time, we have chosen for health and safety to keep it on the down-low, but we will be starting back into it this weekend.''
He said all work was conducted by Landsar and Coastguard volunteers, but the voluntary help of a professional tradesman would be gratefully received.
Mr Davis said ''it made sense'' to locate the new facility, which would store Landsar equipment as well as the Mackenzie Lakes Coastguard rescue boat, close to the police station, because it was the police who had the authority to run search and rescue responses in New Zealand.
''At the moment Landsar Mackenzie operates out of a 1.5m by 2m garden shed, and Coastguard have got all their equipment stored at people's own homes and their boat is being housed kindly in one of the local workshops.''
The project was paid for by community funds. The total cost of constructing the building was about $65,000, he said.
''When your boat stands 3.6m tall, you kind of need a bigger-than-average garage.''
He said Mackenzie Landsar had about 34 volunteer members and responded to incidents between Rakaia, Caroline Bay and Omarama, but had also attended ''second phase'' rescue operations as far away as Arthurs Pass.
Although he could not predict how many people would need rescuing during the summer, the newly opened Alps 2 Ocean cycle trail had the potential to throw up some ''different challenges'' for the Landsar community.
However, it was hoped a recent education programme surrounding the correct use of personal emergency location beacons (EPerb) could reduce the number of unnecessary call-outs.
''I would like to think the education side of things has improved after the EPerb scenarios that we had last year, with people setting them off because they were late for work or had their vehicle stuck.''
