Top training facilities planned for Hartlepool fire base

Hartlepool Borough Council granted outline planning permission to the fire brigade last year for the major scheme at the Queen’s Meadow Business Park, on Stockton Road.

It includes the demolition of the fire authority’s headquarters at Endeavour House and building of new fire training and police building facilities.

A new and final application for the scheme seeks approval of details relating to the design, layout, scale, appearance, means of access and landscaping of the new development.

A planning statement prepared for Cleveland Fire Authority by Bond Bryan Architects states: “Cleveland Fire Authority has occupied its current location on the Queens Meadow business site since the 1980s and is committed to remaining a recognized and important presence on the park.

“The proposed relocation of all its technical and training facilities onto the site is intended to add value to the overall development and offer facilities to open to its neighbours.

“It will also provide reassurance to industry and business considering locating in Teesside that they can depend on fire and rescue services of the highest quality.”

The training facilities include a fire house that looks like a real home so firefighters can practice search and rescue techniques in a smoke-filled environment.

Another is a petro-chemical rig and an area of yard will be marked out to simulate a dual carriageway, complete with lane markings, central reservation, crash barrier and pedestrian crossing, to train for vehicle smashes.

They, along with a separate classroom, all form part of a new training hub.

Cleveland Fire Authority has bought land to the south of their existing site so that the new training facilities will be away from the site boundary.

Chief Fire Officer Ian Hayton previously said: “This development at our Queens Meadow site is vital to ensure that we can continue to provide the high standard of fire and rescue services that Teesside residents and businesses need in the 21st century.”

The Queens Meadow estate is part of the government-backed Tees Valley Enterprise Zone which has seen £10 million of investment in the first phase of its development.