Work is underway on a major new multi-million pound fire station in North Liverpool.
Last June, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority (MFRA) signed off on the purchase of land at Long Lane, Aintree, for the construction of a new multi pump super station combining existing sites in Croxteth and Aintree. A budget of almost £40m has been set aside by the authority for the entirety of the project.
The new station will be located on a 12-acre site formerly home to Commercial Hydraulics and will also include a state of the art training academy and national resilience centre. The development will improve operational response times and enable the region’s fire and rescue service to plan effectively against foreseeable risk and emerging threats.
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Overall response times across North Liverpool are expected to improve on average by 34 seconds and it is thought the build, being led by Wates Construction, will be completed by mid-2024. Group Manager Dave Watson, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) lead for the project said: “We are delighted and incredibly proud that construction work has commenced on the new site.
“When the build is completed, it will ensure we have highly skilled and trained people who plan for identified risk and keep our teams safe and effective. This new Training and Development Academy project is the largest infrastructure project we have ever undertaken and represents a once in a lifetime opportunity for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority.”
The facility will include immersive, realistic training zones that can be adapted to train for risks including high-rise, marine, flooding, motorway and train incidents. The Long Lane site will feature a six-storey high-rise building, a row of terraced houses, a motorway setting, specialist vehicle garages, a High Volume Pump (HVP) training area and a suite of practical training classrooms.
A purpose built command and control suite will enable scope to train for a range of incidents, simulating small scale incidents through to major incidents involving multiple agencies. A financial review report released by MFRA ahead of its audit meeting next week said progress began on site in October and is expected to come in around the earmarked budget.
Around £11.6m of the budget will be made up through borrowing. More than 60 firefighters will be based on site all working to a 24-hour shift pattern with 15 on duty during each shift.
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