MOULTRIE — Hero House, Colquitt County’s Child Advocacy Center, broke ground Tuesday on a new building that will house a soundproof room where child victims of abuse can be interviewed by investigators.

“Now, when we go into court and a child’s voice needs to be heard in court, what you have is the noise of the street or the lawnmowers,” Hero House Director Regina Dismuke told supporters gathered for the groundbreaking.

That promises to change when the new building is complete; Dismuke said the construction company estimated it would be done in three to four months.

The building will be 20-by-24-feet, according to Marcy Sullivan, who facilitated the project alongside Wayne Edwards, chairman of Hero House’s Buildings and Grounds Committee.

Hero House currently occupies a 100-year-old house on First Street Southeast. A cottage behind the main house is where nurses perform medical examinations of sexual assault victims.

The new building will sit beside that cottage, blocked from the street by the main house. Sullivan said it will be built with modern construction techniques but will complement the older buildings on the lot.

“A little cottage is what it’ll look like behind here,” he said.

The building will consist of a 10×12 soundproof room where the interviews can be conducted, a handicap-accessible bathroom, an office and a waiting area.

The construction was made possible when First Presbyterian Church of Moultrie donated the land and buildings to Hero House’s board of directors last year. Dismuke said they couldn’t make improvements until they owned the property.

Hero House has served the victims of child abuse since late 2000. Interviews conducted there are used in the prosecution of physical, sexual and other abuse cases.