Ground was broken at the Weston Rd site at a ceremony at the weekend and Breen Construction began work on Monday.
Following an emotional ground-breaking ceremony on Saturday, Oamaru Hato Hone St John area committee chairwoman Maria Dickie said
construction was scheduled to be completed in December this year, and the Oamaru team expected to move in early 2027.
The new station will have a four-bay garage, which will house an ambulance, a volunteer-based first response unit, a "patient transport services" vehicle and an event health services ambulance.
As well as being a base for emergency ambulance service staff, the new station would also be used by the Waka Ora Health Shuttle team and for public training sessions.
Breaking ground was a significant milestone, Ms Dickie said.
The project brings to an end a decade-long search for a suitable site to house a new station for Oamaru, a search that had suffered set backs and false-starts, including the Waitaki District Council’s 2021 rejection of a St John’s proposal to build at Awamoa Park.
Hato Hone St John district operations manager Otago Southland, David Milne, said St John members were looking forward to being able to move on from working in their current, leaky, building, where they sometimes even had to sleep in the carpark to a new, modern facility.
"We've had to put buckets out when it's rained, you know, and you've persevered through that with a smile and a bit of dry sarcasm," he told those gathered on Saturday.
“The team is extremely excited about getting a new station that will ensure we are well placed to serve the community for years to come.”
Tributes were also paid to Weston Rd residents Ray and Janice Walker who have gifted the land to St John.
More than $2 million was still needed to be raised to complete the project and further support was being sought from individuals, businesses, community groups, and philanthropic organisation’s to help bring the project to completion, he said.
