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10 May 2024
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Fire stations of the world: Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service celebrates official opening of new fire station on Long Lane, Aintree, UK
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An historic day for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service saw the launch of a brand new state-of-the-art fire station on Long Lane, Aintree, providing 24-hour emergency cover and improved operational response times to the surrounding area in the heart of the community. This official operational opening of the new Aintree Fire Station, Station 19, on Wednesday, 1 May 2024, represents completion of the first phase of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority’s exciting and forward-thinking project to bring a new multi-pump fire and rescue station, state of the art Training Academy and National Resilience Centre of Excellence to the 12-acre site.
Designed to be accessible to all, the new location will also offer youth engagement facilities and meeting rooms for community use to ensure a lasting legacy in the heart of the community Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service serves, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. The launch of this brand new state-of-the-art fire station on Long Lane marks the operational closure of the previous Aintree and Croxteth stations.
There was a fantastic community turnout to say goodbye at the old Aintree station on the evening of the crew’s final shift, at a building that has stood in service since 1926, with generations of firefighters, the public and their families sharing memories from down the years.
Chief Fire Officer Phil Garrigan, Chair of the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority Les Byrom and officers from across the service were at the Long Lane station to welcome crews as they arrived to start a new era.
Station manager Mark Baldwin said, “The team are excited to be moving to the new station and this move presents a fantastic opportunity to serve the communities of Croxteth and Aintree with direct access to world class training facilities the whole Service can be proud of. We are looking forward to serving the community with even faster response times from a modern fire station fit for the future set within a state-of-the-art facility.”
With all works on Long Lane site at an advanced stage, the project is nearing completion and will enable Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to provide outstanding facilities for a diverse range of operational and support staff to develop and maintain their skills. It will also be home to staff from the National Resilience Assurance Team (NRAT), International Search and Rescue team (ISAR) and secondary Fire Control, embedding National Resilience into the DNA of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.
The progressive vision for the facility will include immersive, realistic training zones such as 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.
The multifunctional site will enable Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to implement a multitude of incident scenarios at the same time, exponentially improving the Service’s ability to train against foreseeable risk and emerging threats in conditions as close to real incidents as possible.
Through the roll out of these exciting and forward-thinking plans, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service continues to deliver improvements to frontline services, cementing the ambition to be the best fire and rescue service in the country, whilst ensuring the safety of firefighters and the public.
Inside the new fire station
Located on the 12-acre site of the former Commercial Hydraulics plant, the new multi-pump super station will not only combine existing stations in Croxteth and Aintree, but deliver a wide-ranging new development for training officers from Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) and beyond. As the project entered the 55th of an 80-week build, the Echo was given a look around the new location.
The site is located opposite the Jeffrey Humble football centre on Long Lane, with a new red station visible from street view. Amid windy conditions, the site was busy when the Echo paid a visit, with 150 staff and contractors on hand from Wates Construction who have been tasked with bringing the design to life.
The new multi-pump station comprises four appliance bays, incorporating operational and welfare accommodation, offices and training facilities, external drill and training spaces, as well as a four storey training tower. It is expected more than 60 firefighters will based at the site all working to a 24-hour shift pattern with 15 on duty during each shift.
Around 50 administrative/training staff will also work on site during normal office hours. It is expected overall response times across north Liverpool will improve on average by 34 seconds when the station is fully operational.
This was all impressive enough until Stewart Woods, fire service head of estates, showed the Echo the wider site. Amid the planned new trees, building is well underway on a six-storey tower designed to set on fire, something that posed a challenge for project manager Jamie Bawden and complete unique to north Liverpool.
Stewart and Jamie explained how rather than serving as a regulation high rise for firefighters to hone their skills, each level will be layered out in a different scenario to challenge officers’ abilities. These include a standard home, a hospital ward or bar and club scenario.
Phil Garrigan, chief fire officer, told the Echo how given the number of firefighters that have been lost to fires where they have become trapped in underground areas like basement clubs, a focus had been placed on learning how officers can exit and enter challenging situations safely. MFRS is the lead for national search and rescue operations, something the service is proud of.
As a result, this requires skills in a variety of situations. That is why a brand new motorway complete with overhead signage - which will never be used by the general public - culverts for recovery of vehicles and even train lines complete with tunnels are being constructed on the site.
Adding to that, Chief Garrigan revealed the service will take delivery of two of the former trains used when the Class 777 fleet is fully operational on the Merseyrail network. He said: “It’s about developing strategies for every challenge possible.”
The service is also moving at pace with its digital capacity. Just across from the training site where the high rise, motorway and tunnel will be situated, a purpose built command and control suite is being developed to allow teams to visually train for a range of incidents, simulating small scale incidents through to major incidents involving multiple agencies.
These will then be put into practice out on the ground.
As the damage from Storm Ciaran and wider flooding continues nationwide, the need to upgrade rescue services alongside fire fighting capabilities has never been more evident. As national lead, Chief Garrigan said teams from Merseyside had been tasked with supporting flood recovery efforts in Lincolnshire last month.
This will also allow the service to bolster its wider international capabilities, having been shipped out to Morocco and Turkey to aid with earthquake recovery efforts. It’s something Chief Garrigan said he hopes will continue to show why Merseyside was rated outstand in three operational areas in an inspection by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.
A path to net zero carbon fire and rescue services
Wates Construction stated, “Our fifth project with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS), the new Fire and Rescue station and Training Academy and National Resilience Centre of Excellence is being constructed right in the heart of Aintree. Responding to the Government’s 2050 net zero Carbon target was a key MFRS requirement and our early involvement at RIBA 2 enabled us to carry out early optioneering and to work with the Service to develop a ‘Pathway to net zero Carbon,’ setting up the facilities now to achieve zero operational carbon by 2040.”
“We used energy data from three comparable fire stations, which we have delivered for MFRS over the last five years, to set benchmarks for the new facilities. The designs for these were 55 percent better than BSRIA benchmarks for Co2/m2 through incorporation of:
“To further improve on these figures, we commissioned a low carbon options study for the project, which enabled us to work with MFRS to select the most effective LZC opportunities for the project within operational and budgetary constraints.” Changes included:
The combination of these, in addition to optimising building locations and orientation resulted in a 46 percent decrease in carbon from previous designs, an impressive 75 percent better than BSRIA benchmarks.
The finalised design for the building generates 87 399kg Co2 pa with the current photovoltaic (PV) provision offsets this by 41 965kg Co2 pa.
Further PV provision in the car park area, allowed for within the design, will enable the Service to reduce Co2 by a further 45 434kg pa as funding comes online.
“Through our early involvement with the project, we have been able to work with our customer to maximise sustainability outcomes within a capital budget and to make design provision, and set out a pathway, that will enable them to achieve their ultimate goal of operational net zero by 2040”, stated Wates.
For free fire safety advice or to request a home fire safety check, call 0800 731 5958. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service also provides free smoke alarms for those over 65 or meeting certain criteria.
Sources: Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, Wates Construction, Echo
Designed to be accessible to all, the new location will also offer youth engagement facilities and meeting rooms for community use to ensure a lasting legacy in the heart of the community Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service serves, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. The launch of this brand new state-of-the-art fire station on Long Lane marks the operational closure of the previous Aintree and Croxteth stations.
There was a fantastic community turnout to say goodbye at the old Aintree station on the evening of the crew’s final shift, at a building that has stood in service since 1926, with generations of firefighters, the public and their families sharing memories from down the years.
Chief Fire Officer Phil Garrigan, Chair of the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority Les Byrom and officers from across the service were at the Long Lane station to welcome crews as they arrived to start a new era.
Station manager Mark Baldwin said, “The team are excited to be moving to the new station and this move presents a fantastic opportunity to serve the communities of Croxteth and Aintree with direct access to world class training facilities the whole Service can be proud of. We are looking forward to serving the community with even faster response times from a modern fire station fit for the future set within a state-of-the-art facility.”
With all works on Long Lane site at an advanced stage, the project is nearing completion and will enable Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to provide outstanding facilities for a diverse range of operational and support staff to develop and maintain their skills. It will also be home to staff from the National Resilience Assurance Team (NRAT), International Search and Rescue team (ISAR) and secondary Fire Control, embedding National Resilience into the DNA of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.
The progressive vision for the facility will include immersive, realistic training zones such as 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.
The multifunctional site will enable Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to implement a multitude of incident scenarios at the same time, exponentially improving the Service’s ability to train against foreseeable risk and emerging threats in conditions as close to real incidents as possible.
Through the roll out of these exciting and forward-thinking plans, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service continues to deliver improvements to frontline services, cementing the ambition to be the best fire and rescue service in the country, whilst ensuring the safety of firefighters and the public.
Inside the new fire station
Located on the 12-acre site of the former Commercial Hydraulics plant, the new multi-pump super station will not only combine existing stations in Croxteth and Aintree, but deliver a wide-ranging new development for training officers from Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) and beyond. As the project entered the 55th of an 80-week build, the Echo was given a look around the new location.
The site is located opposite the Jeffrey Humble football centre on Long Lane, with a new red station visible from street view. Amid windy conditions, the site was busy when the Echo paid a visit, with 150 staff and contractors on hand from Wates Construction who have been tasked with bringing the design to life.
The new multi-pump station comprises four appliance bays, incorporating operational and welfare accommodation, offices and training facilities, external drill and training spaces, as well as a four storey training tower. It is expected more than 60 firefighters will based at the site all working to a 24-hour shift pattern with 15 on duty during each shift.
Around 50 administrative/training staff will also work on site during normal office hours. It is expected overall response times across north Liverpool will improve on average by 34 seconds when the station is fully operational.
This was all impressive enough until Stewart Woods, fire service head of estates, showed the Echo the wider site. Amid the planned new trees, building is well underway on a six-storey tower designed to set on fire, something that posed a challenge for project manager Jamie Bawden and complete unique to north Liverpool.
Stewart and Jamie explained how rather than serving as a regulation high rise for firefighters to hone their skills, each level will be layered out in a different scenario to challenge officers’ abilities. These include a standard home, a hospital ward or bar and club scenario.
Phil Garrigan, chief fire officer, told the Echo how given the number of firefighters that have been lost to fires where they have become trapped in underground areas like basement clubs, a focus had been placed on learning how officers can exit and enter challenging situations safely. MFRS is the lead for national search and rescue operations, something the service is proud of.
As a result, this requires skills in a variety of situations. That is why a brand new motorway complete with overhead signage - which will never be used by the general public - culverts for recovery of vehicles and even train lines complete with tunnels are being constructed on the site.
Adding to that, Chief Garrigan revealed the service will take delivery of two of the former trains used when the Class 777 fleet is fully operational on the Merseyrail network. He said: “It’s about developing strategies for every challenge possible.”
The service is also moving at pace with its digital capacity. Just across from the training site where the high rise, motorway and tunnel will be situated, a purpose built command and control suite is being developed to allow teams to visually train for a range of incidents, simulating small scale incidents through to major incidents involving multiple agencies.
These will then be put into practice out on the ground.
As the damage from Storm Ciaran and wider flooding continues nationwide, the need to upgrade rescue services alongside fire fighting capabilities has never been more evident. As national lead, Chief Garrigan said teams from Merseyside had been tasked with supporting flood recovery efforts in Lincolnshire last month.
This will also allow the service to bolster its wider international capabilities, having been shipped out to Morocco and Turkey to aid with earthquake recovery efforts. It’s something Chief Garrigan said he hopes will continue to show why Merseyside was rated outstand in three operational areas in an inspection by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.
A path to net zero carbon fire and rescue services
Wates Construction stated, “Our fifth project with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS), the new Fire and Rescue station and Training Academy and National Resilience Centre of Excellence is being constructed right in the heart of Aintree. Responding to the Government’s 2050 net zero Carbon target was a key MFRS requirement and our early involvement at RIBA 2 enabled us to carry out early optioneering and to work with the Service to develop a ‘Pathway to net zero Carbon,’ setting up the facilities now to achieve zero operational carbon by 2040.”
“We used energy data from three comparable fire stations, which we have delivered for MFRS over the last five years, to set benchmarks for the new facilities. The designs for these were 55 percent better than BSRIA benchmarks for Co2/m2 through incorporation of:
- Enhanced building envelope
- VRF heating and cooling to primary rooms
- Panel heaters to ancillary rooms
- Gas radiant panels to appliance bays
- Heat recovery ventilation
- Gas fired hot water”
“To further improve on these figures, we commissioned a low carbon options study for the project, which enabled us to work with MFRS to select the most effective LZC opportunities for the project within operational and budgetary constraints.” Changes included:
- Air source heat pumps and underfloor heating to garages
- No fossil fuels
- A low temperature hot water and domestic hot water systems
- Photovoltaic cells
The combination of these, in addition to optimising building locations and orientation resulted in a 46 percent decrease in carbon from previous designs, an impressive 75 percent better than BSRIA benchmarks.
The finalised design for the building generates 87 399kg Co2 pa with the current photovoltaic (PV) provision offsets this by 41 965kg Co2 pa.
Further PV provision in the car park area, allowed for within the design, will enable the Service to reduce Co2 by a further 45 434kg pa as funding comes online.
“Through our early involvement with the project, we have been able to work with our customer to maximise sustainability outcomes within a capital budget and to make design provision, and set out a pathway, that will enable them to achieve their ultimate goal of operational net zero by 2040”, stated Wates.
For free fire safety advice or to request a home fire safety check, call 0800 731 5958. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service also provides free smoke alarms for those over 65 or meeting certain criteria.
Sources: Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, Wates Construction, Echo