Telford fire station plans still on track, say service chiefs

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service plans to modernise the 1980s-built station with an updated control room, a multi-agency incident facility and training facilities.

Shropshire and Wrekin Fire and Rescue Authority members heard the bidding deadline for potential contractors had been postponed over the festive period and into January, partly because of delays in receiving estimates and partly because pre-submission site visits had to be carried out individually, not as a group.

Chief Fire Officer Rod Hammerton added the “challenging project” would not be delayed overall, as the award of the contract was still scheduled for February.

In August, Telford and Wrekin Council granted planning permission for the brigade to add two extensions and solar panels at the Stafford Park 1 site and reconfigure its car park. Budget documents seen by the fire authority earlier this year said £1 million was expected to be spent on the renovation this financial year, with £7 million more in 2021-22.

Planning, Performance and Communications Manager Ged Edwards told the authority’s Standards, Audit and Performance Committee: “We’ve just this week extended the tender date to the beginning of January. The tenders will now close on January 8.

Contractors

“However, the award of contract won’t be affected. That is still currently scheduled for February 26.”

Committee chairman Kuldip Sahota asked whether the finishing date was likely to be affected. Mr Edwards said it would not.

Councillor Sahota then asked why Covid-19 caused a delay, since everyone involved was working throughout the pandemic.

Officer Hammerton said projects like these would normally start with interested contractors coming in to view the site.

“That process was slowed down because we had to maintain social distancing, so we couldn’t have a gang of contractors coming to have a look,” he said.

“Then, as they were putting their figures together, there was delay, they were chasing subcontractors to get their figures together.

“They were, in fact, only asking for a very short delay, but the fact was that delay would take them into the Christmas period, and we knew we wouldn’t evaluate it over Christmas, so we just put it into the new year, knowing we’d be able to focus on getting the evaluation done quickly and getting the tender decision in on time and getting the project back to the existing timescale.

“This has become a challenging project, and the reason, we’ve worked out, is that everything is moving at the same time. Whereas when we built Shrewsbury there was a level of certainty in the world, there is so much uncertainty it’s putting in delays at every corner.”