Client: LEICESTERSHIRE FIRE & RESUCE SERVICE Location: LEICESTERSHIRE Value: £2,200,000
Design & Build
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) has an Integrated Risk Management Plan which constantly assess the risk to the communities of Leicestershire.
As part of this plan it was recognised that there was a need to provide a new fire station on the site of the existing fire station at Castle Donington. The existing station responds to a wide variety of incidents and provides strategic cover to the nearby M1 motorway. They are also in the curtilage of East Midlands Airport and therefore work closely with East Midlands Airport Rescue and Firefighting Service.
The new fire station building includes office space, gymnasium, changing facilities, training room and appliance bays for four fire engines and one East Midland Ambulance Service (EMAS) vehicle.
The new facility has been built to accommodate 12 wholetime personnel who work the Day Crew Plus and therefore provides living accommodation, five en-suite bedrooms, lounge area, kitchen and dining facilities and utility/plant rooms so that crew can provide cover 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Castle Donington Fire Station was part of a planned expansion of LFRS’s property portfolio to address the growing demand for emergency services in the region. G F Tomlinson were entrusted and have successfully completed six fire station schemes for LFRS over a 5 year period, which involved the construction of two new fire station and the refurbishment and extension of a further four buildings, these include: Coalville, Melton, Oakham, Shepshed and Western.
The project was undertaken working around a live fire station environment. A site-specific Traffic Management Plan was established to ensure bluelight vehicles had full priority over site deliveries and site traffic, as it was a shared access.
All deliveries were required to contact the Site Project Manager thirty minutes prior to arrival on site and a full time Site Logistics Manager co-ordinated all vehicle and plant movements.
In addition, close liaison with the fire-fighters was paramount and sensitive working hours were adhered to, to ensure minimal disruption.
Considering the projects close proximity to East Midlands Airport any ‘Permits to Lift’ of ‘Permits to Break Ground’ had to be planned 14 working days in advance.
The works were undertaken with a ‘right first time’ approach, this was especially important when undertaking the installations of the specific fire station items such as, call-out beacons and appliance bay door openings. It was essential that such items worked correctly from day
this by regular quality inspections throughout the design and installations with items requiring action being rectified immediately. Areas that required specific attention included:
- Call-out Beacons
- Circulation Lighting Turn On
- Access Control Door Release
- Appliance Bay Lighting – Linked Exhaust Extract
- Appliance Bay Door Opens
Any innovation approaches and added value delivered to the client:
Not specific just to this scheme, but we undertook all six fire stations for LFRS via a framework, where we took on the full design & build role and procured the design teams on the clients behalf. Prior to procuring the schemes this way, LFRS experienced difficulties achieving time and cost certainty, but through our collaborative working approach and early involvement on de-risking projects through buildability and design advice, all six schemes were completed on time and in budget.
“It’s a big help for us to have G F Tomlinson manage that side of the process for us. They’re able to appoint a consultant on our behalf and work with them through each project from design to delivery whilst keeping us involved in the decision making and preconstruction phases. Beyond this, G F Tomlinson have been essential in us achieving our strategic objectives, using their expert knowledge has allowed us to further our initiatives including OPE.”
Graeme Major, LFRS
Maximising Energy Efficiencies of the Building:
Through our building services contractor Amptron, our Building Management Systems (BMS) provider, Comfort Controls provide a next generation system, and Castle Donington was the first scheme in the UK to use it. The unit reduced installation cost and maximised the energy efficiency of the building through its intelligent management of the building’s temperature control.
Evidence of achieving programmed timescales:
The project was delivered on time.
Any evidence of achieving accessibility standards:
The project is DDA compliant.
Issues that occurred on the project and how they were overcome: Following issues with funding delays, mobilisation periods needed to be minimised to ensure we were still able to achieve completion on the same date as originally required. due to our early involvement we were able to plan ahead and procure long lead in items in sufficient time. Also because the scheme had been de-risked during pre-construction so we could hit the ground running without any issues. This was compounded when the scope of works was increased midway into the scheme. We were able to work out of normal hours to incorporate these without any detriment to the programme or budget.
