Verde Property directors Stephen and Jody Gosling, from Queensland, were in Orange on Wednesday to continue discussions on the development ahead of work starting on site in early 2019.

Ms Gosling said they were committed to working with the Orange community and managing the new building.

“We are developers but we are investors, so we are here in Orange for the long haul, we are going to keep it [the building].

“We self-manage so, where we can, we employ local people, local managers, local tradespeople.

 “We’ve already employed the three most senior people for the site and they are locally-based.”

She said they included the site foreman and a senior site officer.

They also sought to ease concerns the offices, once opened in late 2020, would create parking congestion.

Mr Gosling said a study by the DPI had confirmed they needed 390 car spaces for staff and visitors and that’s what would be built, including underground secure parking.

Mrs Gosling said the parking would be a lot better than when the hospital was operating.

“All ours [parking] is on site, none of ours is on street, [including visitors],” she said.

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She said they had introduced themselves to businesses around the site and discussed parking issues.

They also announced they were buying the old ambulance station to firstly become the site office for the construction work and later to become a bar and restaurant, which would be separate to the DPI offices.

“We are buying that. They will be two separate properties, that will not be part of the DPI,” Ms Gosling said.

“We’ve got a lot of interest from micro-breweries and restaurants and things like that.

“It’s got nothing to do with their [DPI] lease, it will be a facility they can use like you or can or I can, it will have its own dedicated car spaces.”