The Department of Finance released a tender for a fire and emergency services multi-purpose facility in Collie in late July.
The $9.6 million project will construct a new facility designed by Oldfield Knott Architects for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services. It will be constructed on a vacant site in the Collie light industrial area and project managed by the Department of Finance.
The building was designed with a modern, contemporary, uncluttered and timeless appearance that will be easily identified as a fire and emergency services site, and constructed using durable, low maintenance, robust materials.
Sustainability is a feature, the building designed to the equivalent of a 4 Star ‘best practice’ Green Star rating. It will include low flow taps and LED lights with movement sensors to minimise electricity consumption. Landscaping will emphasise native plants for lower water consumption, and rainwater directed to local ground water.
Passive thermal design is incorporated into the building with natural ventilation an option in all rooms, and the building oriented to minimise eastern and western facades, with courtyard shading and thermal buffer zones.
The facility will be delivered in discrete components so it can begin operating as soon as possible. The fleet storage warehouse is scheduled to be handed over in the second quarter of 2021. The incident control centre (ICC), workshops and stores will follow, and the facility should be fully operational by the third quarter of 2021.
The new facility will:
- bring volunteers and DFES staff into Collie from all over the state for emergency driving training
- contain regional fleet maintenance and management
- commission new firefighting appliances built in Collie
- establish the state’s first purpose-built level 3 ICC
- provide ICT and radio communications frontline service support
- benefit the Collie community with 12 new jobs planned to operate it.
The project will include a fully enclosed fleet warehouse, testing and inspection bays, fleet and radio comms stores, washdown bay, level 3 ICC, driver training simulator and radio communications infrastructure for ICC.
