Britcon fulfils £7.4m contract on London fire training facility

Yorkshire-based building and civil engineering contractor, Britcon, recently completed work on a new £7.4m state of the art training facility in Park Royal for the Babcock International Group, the chosen training partners for the London Fire Brigade (LFB).

The Emergency Services Training Centre in Park Royal is part of a larger project to build new and upgraded training facilities to the LFB.

Babcock, which has been developing modernised training programmes and world-class training facilities to LFB as part of a 25 year contract, appointed Britcon as the lead contractor on this project.

Built on a brownfield site, which used to be used for industrial trading, the Emergency Services Training Centre features a comprehensive firehouse with basement for fire behaviour and Breathing Apparatus (BA) and Real Fire training.

The building also incorporates variable internal doors to provide a range of training scenarios, together with a range of rope access for high line rescue training and ladder training. The training building includes BA classrooms, syndicate rooms, management suite, and welfare facilities.

A kitchen installation with full dining facilities is also included.

Designed with proficient environmental benefits, the Park Royal site has a CHP heating system and PV was installed on the sloping roof area. The structure also has a green roof, and the aim is to recycle as much run‐off water as possible, which will enable the building to achieve a BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology) Excellent rating.

Britcon, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary, has previously constructed a number of fire and rescue projects including the new £2m Real Fire Training Facility for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, as well as the USAR facilities and BA buildings for West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue.

Britcon, which advised Babcock while bidding for the Park Royal training site in June 2013,

managed the post demolition site remediation and preparation process before delivering structures for highly specialist use.

State of the art features include two gas fired ‘smoxidisers’ that act like a catalytic converter to clean the smoke from seven carbonaceous burn training rooms in the building in compliance with the London clean air act. A simulated sewer system also creates opportunities for confined space training and a large training tower provides a working at height training facility.

Paul Clarkson, managing director at Britcon, said: “We have built a very successful partnership with Babcock International and developed a highly successful, bespoke model for the 21st century needs of the UK fire and rescue service. This is a unique, world leading facility that incorporates specialised materials and structures to withstand temperatures of up to 800 degrees combined with techniques to manage smoke and water extraction as well as methods to provide utmost safety for training firefighters.”

Steve smith, Babcock project director added: “We are delighted with the facility which will enable us to bring Firefighter training to a new level, which in turn makes London a safer place for all.”