Staffordshire Fire & Rescue is changing. The service has recently unveiled its plans to build ten new stations across the county designed to implement its new ethos.

The regeneration programme is due for completion next year with seven existing stations to be rebuilt and a further three being introduced in areas where the Fire & Rescue Authority has determined there is a need for additional resources.

Staffordshire's chief fire officer, Peter Dartford, said the regeneration programme will allow the service to introduce a completely different approach to delivering its services to local communities.

"These buildings won't be brighter, shinier versions of what we have always had and what people would expect from a fire station," he added. "These are going to be truly community-focused facilities that just happen to be a fire station rather than a traditional station where we let the public into once a year on an open day."

The new stations will be crewed around the clock and have all been designed with state-of-the-art operational facilities, which will be used by supervised groups and allow for more community safety activities to take place, such as student fire-fighter courses.

"Our current stations were built and designed for the service that we used to be," Dartford said. "We used to train and then wait and respond when an incident came in. They were not designed for the service that we are today and certainly not the service that we want to be in the future.

"We recognise that to properly engage with the community is the key to deliver effective public services which obviously include fire and rescue services. We have known for some years that engaging with local people and doing what we can to make them safe in their home by carrying out fire risk checks, fitting smoke detectors, fire guards and providing a range of other fire safety equipment that would reduce the risk in a household is far more effective than simply relying on an emergency response when a fire occurs."

In 1999 when Dartford joined Staffordshire there were more than 270 people killed or injured in fires in the home. That prompted the service to take a more proactive approach around the start of the new millennium and last year that number dropped to 38.

"So there was as 80 per cent reduction in those incidents as a result of us taking responsibility for making people safe rather than simply advocating safety," Dartford said.

The £50 million plus project has been funded by the Government through a private finance initiative (PFI) and represents a £90 million investment to be made in the next 25 years.

Dartford said it took a few years to close the deal, but now that it has been he feels fantastic. "It has been an awfully long procurement process but it has proved to be extremely worthwhile because the quality of the facilities in the county are going to be first class."

The project is being managed by a consortium called Fire Support, which is led by Bilfinger Berger Project Investments and comprises Nord LB as well as building contractors Thomas Vale Construction and Stepnell.

Bilfinger Berger Project Investments are the majority funders of the project, covering 85 per cent of the cost with the buildings being constructed by Stepnell and Thomas Vale. The architects for the project are 3DReid, blue sky architects and Walker Simpson.

The funding is provided under a DBFO contract with the Fire Authority for a concession period of 25 years with debt approved by Nationwide Building Society and Norddeutsche Landesbank.

Nationwide Building Society and Norddeutsche Landesbank were advised by Osborne Clarke, led by partners Omar Al-Nuaimi and Chris Wade. The Fire Authority was advised by Eversheds LLP, whilst Fire Support was represented by White & Case LLP.

Bilfinger Berger's managing director, Martin Pugh, said the firm is proud to be partnering with Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Authority in developing the next generation of community fire stations, placing safety at its very heart.

"The Fire Support consortium is delighted to have reached this important milestone and is now focused on delivering the programme of modern and exciting new facilities," he added. "This also marks Bilfinger Berger's continued commitment to long-term investment in the UK's social infrastructure sector. We look forward to working closely with the authority to deliver high-quality emergency services for many years to come."

3DReid's project leader, Dave Smith, admitted that this is a relatively new market for the firm but they are looking forward to building the first of these new stations.

"The main design aspirations are centred around capturing the essence of a modern dynamic service in flexible, environmentally-conscious buildings with a strong civic and community presence."

Construction work has already commenced on several of the sites now that contracts have been signed with the Rising Brook station due to open in the summer.

Bilfinger Berger has appointed Ian Bolden as the project's general manager. Bolden said this is a great project to work on as the sites are a departure from the normal fire stations as they have more imagination.

He confirmed that the work is well underway. "They all started precisely on time and are all on target. So we're humming."

Bolden claims that winning this contract was a good move for the company when you look at where the market has been in the past two years. "In terms of value it sits below the more expensive PFIs, which tend to be roads, bridges and tunnels, but it is a very good project and forms a valuable part of our portfolio."

Fire & Rescue Authority chairman Cllr Len Bloomer said: "It's taken over three years of hard work to get to this stage, however now that the contracts are signed things will start progressing quickly - within the next year we'll have opened the first of our new stations. It's a very exciting time for both the service and the communities who will benefit from these new facilities."

The ten new stations will receive soft and technical support services for the next 25 years from facilities and energy management provider COFELY.

The firm worked closely with the Fire Support team from the design stages to ensure that the buildings are closely aligned to the ongoing facilities and energy management requirements.

COFELY will deliver cleaning and waste management, grounds maintenance, security and technical life cycle maintenance on behalf of Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service.

But Staffordshire's regeneration plans do not end with this deal. "We have developed a business case for a second bid for PFI support," explains Dartford. "For the latest round of projects announced by the communities and local government department we have been allocated up to another £50 million, which will provide another ten stations along the same lines.

"The business case was presented on March 16, 2010 to the treasury and the Authority is waiting to hear if confirmation has been granted."

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