Telford's £10 million fire station refurbishment is 'back on track' after delays
The multi-million pound renovation of Telford Central Fire Station is back on track after being delayed by building complications, the county's top fire officer says.
It is now a year since builders arrived on-site to begin the redevelopment project, which will see the station in Stafford Park extend and re-configured.
It was originally hoped that the work would be completed at the end of last year on the £10m scheme, but the setbacks now mean it is likely to go over budget.
The revamped station will house Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service’s training facilities, as the current station does, and there are also plans to relocate the fire control and operations team, which are currently based at Shrewsbury.
It will also include community spaces and multi-agency emergency command facilities.
Chief fire officer Simon Hardiman said: “It is a huge site. It will be a state-of-the-art fire station that will see us into the future.
“The building started in August last year but we did hit some technical difficulties with steel work within the building.
“We have now worked with the contractor and architect on those issues and the building work has now re-commenced.
“It has resulted in a delay in the build and it is probably also going to result in additional costs.”
Mr Hardiman said the contractors were now aiming to complete the work by March 2024 and were expecting to exceed the £10m budget.
He said: “When we put the business case to the Fire Authority we had already built in a contingency that may be enough.
“We might need to go back to the Fire Authority to ask for some more money, but we are not at that point yet.”
Mr Hardiman said the firefighters were eager to move in to the new-look station, having been operating out of temporary units on the site for the last 12 months.
Mr Hardiman added: “The station can’t wait to get in. They are currently in a temporary set-up with a huge appliance bay that’s like a big festival tent.”
As well as the main Telford project, other stations have also recently undergone improvement works.
Mr Hardiman said: “Wellington has had a refurbishment inside, and we are just nearing completion of some site refurbishments in Market Drayton, Whitchurch and Ellesmere.”
