The first new fire station to be built in Lonodn in over a decade, complete with state of the art facilities and top-notch green technology, was opened by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

The new station, at Harold Hill, Havering, is the greenest ever to be built in London. Fitted out with an innovative water collection system, solar panels and energy saving boilers, it will produce 43% less CO2 emissions than a station built without these green features.

Using the latest green technologies to reduce the carbon emissions of London's public sector buildings is a key part of the Mayor's climate change programme. The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) which runs the London Fire Brigade are playing a leading role in this work building new greener stations, like the one at Harold Hill, as well as giving 10 older stations an energy overhaul which will help them to achieve, on average, a 27% reduction in their carbon emissions and save thousands of pounds on their fuel bills.

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Harold Hill station was built inside three former industrial units on the Falcon Business Park and is the first fire station in London to be fitted out from an existing building. As a result, fewer materials were used, the impact on the local environment has been much smaller and the project even came in £300,000 under budget.

Mr Johnson said: "To be opening the first fire station built in London in a decade is remarkable enough, but throw in the fact that it is the greenest station in the capital and it is truly astonishing. Slashing energy consumption in our public buildings is a sure-fire way to not only reduce the capital’s carbon emissions but also cut fuel bills helping us to save hundreds of thousands of pounds every year."

(CD/GK)