Willmott Dixon gets the nod for Horsham fire station

Willmott Dixon has been selected by West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service to build a new fire station and training centre in Horsham.Work is expected to begin in the next few weeks after West Sussex County Council dug out extra money for the project.With delays related to the Covid pandemic and spiralling construction inflation, the original £21m budget became insufficient to cover costs. According to the local County Times, the council approved the extra spend last month, although the extent of the cost escalation has yet to be revealed.The new Horsham fire station will be a 24-hour operational fire station with residential amenities as well as a fully-fitted training centre with a combined training tower and breathing apparatus facility, a live fire training area, an incident command training facility, a car crash training area and rooms for digital simulations.Solar panels and air source heat pumps will provide heating.It is the latest in a series of ‘blue-light’ projects for Willmott Dixon, following the handover last month of a new HQ for Merseyside Police in the centre of Liverpool. It is currently building an £18m custody suite for Bedfordshire Police alongside a £20m state-of-the-art control centre and operational support building for Humberside Police.? As well as Merseyside’s new headquarters, it was behind a new combined campus for Lincolnshire Fire, Police and Ambulance services and a Custody Centre and Operational Hub for Devon and Cornwall Constabulary in Exeter.