Newcraighall Community Fire Station Refurbishment
Managing the estate and prioritising works is a huge task with many competing demands. Our starting point is robust property management, benchmarking and data collection across our estate to help understand the current challenges and is supported through a property management platform. The considerations are not just bricks and mortar. Changing operational risk, new policies, updated regulations all need to be factored in. By understanding our estate and rating our properties against all these criteria, we can develop a strategic plan to achieve a modern and fit for purpose property estate that supports the effective delivery of services across the whole organisation.
Issues with Reinforced Autoclaved Aeriated Concrete (RAAC) have been well documented. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has been managing these issues within our estate before these problems were highlighted by the media. Specialist surveys identified 14 stations affected by RAAC. Short term measures were implemented in these stations as recommended by structural engineers. Mitigating methods were put in place to support required panels and protect personnel, which included localised props, structural support and crash decks. Regular specialists’ inspections, recording the condition of the affected properties and educating the occupants, were and continue to be implemented. This immediate action helped to plan longer term solutions and informed the prioritisation of stations for refurbishments and upgrades.
The SFRS was formed in 2013 through the merger of eight former brigades in Scotland and has brought together a diverse range of properties. Therefore, a Station Design Guide (SDG) was developed by SFRS Property Department to set a consistent approach to new construction and refurbishments going forward. This consistent approach helps to strengthen the SFRS identity and ensure our values; Safety, Teamwork, Innovation and Respect are reinforced throughout the organisation, starting with our buildings and providing a constant in our day to day working lives. Since its inception, the SDG has evolved through each project with lessons learned being implemented.
Our employees are geographically very mobile across the organisation and the SDG offers the benefit of familiarity for changing work locations. Not to mention the benefits of consistency when it comes to operation and maintenance of the buildings.
The SDG provides a robust template for Wholetime and On Call stations and includes plans, room data sheets and corporate specification, and gives a clear brief to designers and contractors undertaking works within the estate. It forms the basis for any initial design works for new and refurbished stations and it can then be developed and tailored to an individual site.
Contaminant control was also a fundamental aspect. Recommendations around contaminant control has been incorporated into the SDG with guidance sought from subject matter experts within the SFRS dedicated Contaminants Group. Careful consideration was given to dedicated decontamination pods, room adjacencies, pressurised ventilation and red-amber-green zoning of rooms, all to prevent the spread of contaminants.
One of the priorities of the SDG was to align existing properties with the values of SFRS. This identified a need for dignified facilities through the formation of individual resting pods and individual gender-neutral shower and WC facilities, and highlighted the challenges presented by some buildings.
Dingwall , Newcraighall and Galashiels Community Fire Stations were identified as priorities within the estate. The stations are within different Service Delivery Areas and legacy of three separate former brigades. Each has different layouts, construction approaches and finishes.
Additionally, all stations have varying requirements. Dingwall is an On Call station, Newcraighall operates as Wholetime with Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) specialism and Galashiels is a Wholetime station with water rescue capabilities as well as On Call and wildfire support.
Overall, the stations were in acceptable condition and offer the best placed locations for current operational risk. As such, the proposal to refurbish rather than rebuild was reached to avoid unnecessary costs and the challenges associated with new build. These refurbishments offered the perfect opportunity to test and interrogate the flexibility of the SDG.
Having identified the main properties to receive the FY24/25 capital budget, the projects were allocated to the Property Development Team and I was delighted to be assigned Newcraighall Fire Station.
Following some iterations, a workable solution was found, and the red-amber-green zoning achieved by relocating some key activities and rooms to different areas of the station. Effective implementation at a unique station such as Newcraighall demonstrates that the SDG can be effective across the varying SFRS estate.
Design works commenced early in 2023 with construction underway in February 2024 and completion achieved in December 2024. The project was delivered on time, on budget and with a high quality finish. Our stations are subject to 24/7 use and need to be hard wearing to stand the test of time. Having such a vast estate with continual demands for upgrades means we won’t revisit a refurbished station for a number of years and therefore the finish has to be robust.
SFRS Digital First principal was implemented during the project through use of online meetings where possible. Further, a virtual photographic replica of the Station was created and really enhanced opportunities for remote working. While it was not possible to completely eliminate site visits, the virtual replica allowed visits to be limited to only those essential, and save on time, travel expense and carbon emissions. The replica was created by “stitching” together thousands of high quality images to create a virtual walk through of the station. The images were captured at the start of the works, and regularly throughout, creating an up to date record of the construction works’ progress. This allowed some site challenges to be easily resolved, as they could be viewed and discussed remotely.
The replica continues to be a valuable asset beyond the life of the project as it allows others across the organisation to easily “visit” site virtually to see the works undertaken and the finishes achieved. This helps with uniformity of our stations as future project teams can easily access and navigate the photographic record.
One of the major successes of the project was maintaining 100% emergency response capability during the construction works.
The crews were decanted from the required areas of the station to allow the contractor to segregate their construction site from the areas remaining under SFRS operation.
This partial decant minimised the required temporary SFRS accommodation and avoided unnecessary expenditure on short term installations.
As expected with projects of this nature, there were challenges, which were overcome during the project. As is customary for the SFRS, challenges were captured in our lessons learned review and fed back into the SDG to inform and improve the outcomes of future projects.
This single project achieved many outcomes; through collaboration across our stakeholder group, we were able to identify other opportunities to incorporate within the works and provide efficiencies from a cost and time perspective.
Overall the project was a great success and was well received by the crews; the delivery of the works caused them minimised disruption and the outcome was a modern and more functional working environment.
By Emma MacLeod
Emma is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with over 20 years’ experience within the construction industry. Emma previously worked as an Associate Director for a Building Services Consultancy and undertook design roles for a variety of buildings including hotels, schools, offices and leisure centres. In November 2020 Emma joined the SFRS as a Project Manager within the Property Department and has enjoyed the opportunity to oversee multidisciplinary delivery and maintain a close, hands on approach within her projects. Since joining the SFRS, she has delivered a new Training Centre at Portlethen, the roll out of EV Chargers and Decarbonisation projects across the SFRS Estate, and the refurbishment of Newcraighall Community Fire Station.