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Search forTamworth's new £3m fire station blazes trail for future
Thursday, November 20, 2008, 12:00
The state-of-the-art 24-hour station, is to be built on unused land at Belgrave High School. It is expected to be operational by August 2010.
"This is fantastic news for Tamworth, not only will the town benefit from increased fire cover there will also be additional facilities for groups to use," explained Area Commander for Tamworth, Becci Bryant.
"We are welcoming the opportunity to really embed ourselves within the community of Tamworth."
The £3 million Marlborough Way station, will double the number of full-time firefighters serving the area, with four appliances, providing additional support to the current station in Lichfield Street.
The need for a second Tamworth station was identified as part of Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service's risk assessment management plan, which said the existing 1937 brick-built station fails to meet the demands of the growing town.
Existing facilities in Lichfield Street are also expected to benefit from the investment, with the station itself set to be rebuilt.
Belgrave's new building is one of seven stations to be built across the county at a cost of £46 million.
Each one has been designed with a community facility and top-notch operational facilities.
Stations crewed around the clock will include fitness facilities that can be used by supervised groups.
Community groups will be able to use the facilities and the newly designed stations will also allow for more community safety activities to take place, such as Student Firefighter courses.
Chief fire officer and chief executive at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, Peter Dartford said: "We are leading the way in the UK Fire and Rescue Service with these purpose-built community embracing fire stations.
"Our current fire stations were built at a time when we were almost solely a reactive service just responding to emergencies, they were certainly not built for the pro-active service we are today or the service we are going to be in the future – sitting at the heart of the community.
"This is a really exciting time for the service and we look forward to engaging with the public so that they can help us shape the use of the community facilities. These buildings don't look like our traditional fire stations and this is because they have been specifically designed to be inviting to the public and they allow for the integration of the community within the fire station."
For a first glimpse of how the new station could look see the November 20 edition of the Tamworth Herald.
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