Bishop’s Waltham Fire Station

Client
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service
Contractor
Value
£3m
Completion Date
February 2023

Project Background

Retained fire station relying on volunteer firefighters living within 4 minutes’ travel of the site providing response to a predominantly rural area located north of the M27 within the ward of Winchester City Council.

The Challenge

Construction on a small site in close proximity to residential properties and narrow town centre streets

Storage of materials on a compact site

Meeting the client’s aspiration for an energy efficient facility

Mitigating risks due to close proximity to water course with the difficulty of being in a flood risk area, it compounded the the risk of completing weather sensitive works during winter months.

The Solution

Special access was granted for the piling to get onto site. Due to access challenges, certain sized lorries were avoided where possible and asked not to drive through the narrow town centre streets. The site team also avoided driving through the town centre.

Just in time deliveries minimised the need for materials storage and HIWFRS allowed the team to use their temporary car park for storage of materials such as bricks and blocks.

Energy efficient and carbon reducing features included:

Solar arrays on the roof of the building (22 panels, 385 KW each panel/ 8.5k KW).

Air Source Heat Pumps

System which is based on a 1 to 3 ratio – (1kw energy input into the building = 3kw worth of benefits through design efficiencies)

Fabric first philosophy including triple glazed windows, 2-coat wet plastering and air ceiling paint in key areas, eg behind roof joists

VHR (mechanical ventilation heat recovery) set up in key areas of the building (offices, lecture room, community room). The MVHR units sucks out the stale air as well as extracting heat out of the air. Heat extracted from the old stale air then pre heats the new fresh air coming in. If this isn’t designed into the building, it could suffer with Co2 build up.

Electric showers and under sink water heaters to negate the energy losses through storage and circulation as the systems will be unused for periods of time as the building is for retained use not full-time occupation.

BMS system collecting energy and water data for monitoring

LED lighting and occupancy controls to minimise usage

Cooling limited to Gym and Server (Hub) Room

Through early investigations, the site was known to have a high water table, particularly in the NW corner of the site. The site was 50m away from the water table which meant there was particular dangers of a flooding if not carefully mitigated. The team monitored the weather closely and where possible maximised weather sensitive works on days where conditions were correct. Fortunately, the project remained mainly dry throughout which meant minimal disruption was caused. The solution included moving the new fire station slightly further away from the risk area. The design was also developed to accommodate additional ducts.

The Results

A brand new fire station with training facilities helping the fire service make life safer. In addition bespoke community engagement spaces will benefit the people of Bishop’s Waltham and the wider county.

Minimal storage required without any impact on the local community’s roads and access.

An energy efficient fire station utilising the latest technologies. Some of the power can be harnessed as the station which is not manned 24/7. Through diligent construction techniques we were able to achieve 2.97 in air permeability test.

Apprentices

100%

SME Spend

£309k

Added Value

8/10

Client Satisfaction

Client Testimonials

“This is a modern fire station designed to support our dedicated on-call firefighters in serving their local community. The building, with its new training facilities and bespoke community engagement spaces, will be of great benefit to the people of Bishop’s Waltham, and the wider county, and will help the fire service make life safer. I know that this new station, and the teams who represent it, will continue to be at the heart of the town for years to come.”

Neil Odin, Chief Fire Officer, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service

“We are committed to providing stations with modern and inclusive facilities for the benefit of our colleagues and the communities we’re so proud to serve. We worked closely with Morgan Sindall Construction to ensure the new build met our estate design principles. The rebuild of Bishop’s Waltham Fire Station is part of our wider estate’s improvement programme, with upgrades planned at more stations across Hampshire and Isle of Wight and a brand new fire station at Cosham, set to become operational next year.”

Arron Hedges Head of Properties and Facilities, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service

Previous Next

Contractor Performance | Commitments

Fair

Regular payments and have payment periods not exceeding 30 days

Sustainability

93% waste diverted from landfill

100% timber responsibly sourced

Bird and bat nesting bricks integrated into fabric of building

Safe

Zero RIDDORs

CCS Score 43

Legacy

94% local spend, 21 beneficiaries, 8 jobs created

251 trainee weeks and 1,011 students engaged

£3,106 donations to charity, 181 volunteer hours

78% social value created

Sensory garden/outdoor classroom space built for the local Bishop’s Waltham Junior School and all the pupils from Bishops Waltham Infants School have visited the new fire station and get to keep a copy of the handprint tree signage they designed for the site hoarding.

Aftercare

Soft landings for handover

Dedicated Morgan Sindall point of contact

On-line portal for notifying any defects with 3 priority categories for response times