Willmott Dixon has been appointed by West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service on behalf of West Sussex County Council to deliver a fire service training centre and fire station.

It's the latest in a series of ‘blue-light’ projects for the company and follows the handover last month of a new HQ for Merseyside Police in the centre of Liverpool.

The scheme in Horsham was procured using the SCF framework and will be the first of its kind in West Sussex, providing a highly modern working environment for fire and rescue service staff, as well as a 24-hour operational fire station. 

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Key features include a combined training tower and breathing apparatus facility, and a realistic live fire training area.  The high-tech premises will also include a residential element for new recruit training, an incident command training facility, realistic road traffic collision training area and rooms for digital simulations.

Sustainability is at the heart of the project, with a strong emphasis on renewable energy sources such as solar panels and air source heat pumps to provide heating, as well as electric vehicle charging points, in-line with the county council's drive to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Russell Miller, director at Willmott Dixon's Crawley office, said: "We are looking forward to building a first-class training facility that supports the brilliant work of West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service. With the focus on decarbonising property, renewable energy will be at the heart of this, keeping with our own sustainability objectives that all new buildings we deliver after 2030 should be net zero carbon in use."