The London Fire Brigade's Private Finance Initiative (PFI) partner, Blue3, has been given the go ahead to rebuild nine fire stations across the city.
The consortium led by Kier with BDP architects will manage the design and construction of the new fire stations as well as maintaining them over a 28-year period.
Work is set to commence in September and will be carried out in two stages. Phase one will see Mitcham, Old Kent Road, Orpington and Plaistow fire stations undergoing major refurbishment. The second phase of the programme will see building work beginning at Dagenham, Dockhead, Leytonstone, Purley and Shadwell fire stations from September 2014. Construction of each station will take around 12 months to complete.
The £51m scheme will provide state of the art facilities for fire crews with minimal environmental impact. Passive design solutions to be incorporated include natural ventilation and exposed thermal mass to ensure optimum user comfort all year round. The design team are targeting a BREEAM Outstanding rating for each project.
There will be community spaces in each new fire station where members of the public can access advice and guidance on fire safety. London Fire Brigade’s assistant commissioner for technical and service support, Dominic Ellis, said: “This rebuilding programme will bring some of our oldest stations up to date and provide us with brand new facilities fit for the 21st century.
“Some of our fire stations are over 100 years old and struggle to meet the demands of a modern fire and rescue service. The community spaces will reinforce our commitment to providing fire safety education and advice to Londoners – something that we believe has played a key role in the fall in fires, deaths and injuries from fire over the last ten years.”
Eight of the stations will be completely rebuilt on their existing sites and one station, Mitcham, will be built on a brand new site. A programme will be put in place to ensure that fire services are not interrupted during refurbishment works.
Kier is also leading a similar refurbishment initiative for 11 fire stations across Staffordshire. Kier Group chief executive, Paul Sheffield, said: “This provides an excellent opportunity for us to demonstrate how effective public/private partnerships can deliver high quality, value for money solutions."
