One of the largest Bunnings’ operations of its type in regional Australia will employ around 200 people including 65 newcomers to the company when its doors open.

A previous expected opening date was March, but Ballarat-based builder H. Troon is in the final stages of completing the $28 million warehouse of more than 18,000 square metres with 400 car parks on the corner of Borella Road and Drome Street.

Troon has previously built Bunnings stores in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania with work starting on the former Kimberly Clark factory site mid-way through last year.

Kimberly Clark closed in 2015 and Bunnings bought the site.

Bunnings is transferring its trade centre from a leased property in Romet Road, Wodonga across to East Albury.

The new warehouse is almost double the size of the Young Street Bunnings and about three times the size of the nearby Harvey Norman store.

The timber and trade centre is located at the northern end of the warehouse and the garden supplies section at the Borella Road end of the site which is roughly double the size of Bunnings’ Wodonga operation on Thomas Mitchell Drive which opened in 2007.

New staff include qualified tradespeople in the areas of plumbing, horticulture and irrigation and another 10 who have experience in paint, timber, garden and kitchens.

Albury manager, David Goode, who has been a part of the Bunnings team for more than six years after previously working for Myer, said he was excited about the new store opening.

“Bunnings provides a wide range of meaningful career development options for all team members, and I’m confident our new recruits will relish the opportunity to learn and grow with us,” he said.

Bunnings opened its existing Albury store in Young Street in 2003 before an expansion six years later.

The hunt for replacement tenants to occupy the existing Bunnings store in central Albury is underway.

The Bunnings building continues a surge of recent development in the area with construction underway on Total Tools’ new building next door to McDonalds.

Two roundabouts on Drome Street have been built for increased traffic.