Blue light partnership celebrated

The grand opening of the new shared Bury St Edmunds base for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and the Trust was celebrated on Monday.

The adapted fire station has been designed to share property assets, reduce operating costs and improve services for Suffolk communities. 

Amongst the new facilities available on site for the Trust is a reporting station housing up to 28 patient-facing staff, an office for three administrative staff, dedicated crew room and locker facilities and three new response vehicle bays with vehicle charging points.

A new ground floor meeting room, kitchenette, welfare facilities, community room and a general office space will  be shared by the two organisations.

The new facility was opened by EEAST Chief Executive Robert Morton who said he was looking forward to further collaboration with the fire service as it was the “morally right thing to do”.

Matt Broad, EEAST Locality Director for Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, added: “I’m delighted that our close working with SFRS has delivered this collaborative response base in Bury St Edmunds to share public property assets and improve services for our patients.”

Chief Fire Officer at Suffolk Fire and Rescue Mark Hardingham said: “I’m delighted that the hard work of the officers and staff from both our services has provided this shared facility that improves all our emergency response arrangements. We now have 10 of our 35 fire stations shared with either police or ambulance colleagues and plans for more to come in the next few years.”

Plans to redevelop the station in Parkway, Bury St Edmunds, began in late 2014 when unused office space was identified as an ideal location for the EEAST to establish a central position in the town. Building work was completed in May and administrative staff began to move in during summer. Phased relocation of response vehicles was completed by September 2015. 

Published 19th November, 2015

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