Whitley Wood Fire Station

The Brief

Whitley Wood Fire Station is home to a specialist firefighter training facility and serves as a vital educational resource for fire crews, as well as an important community asset for local residents.

Originally opened in 1992, the fire station prepares firefighters for unique emergency situations with practical training, such as working at height or in water, handling hazardous materials and deployment to terrorist incidents. Alongside training, the station also hosts community activities including fire safety education and youth group visits.

After a leak caused irreparable damage to the old building, the fire station needed an urgent replacement for training. With speed and sustainability key priorities for the build, the fire station team made the decision to replace the training centre with an upgraded modular building. Plans to redevelop the space with an upgraded education facility, complete with car and bike parking, were quickly actioned in order for it to continue to train future generations of firefighters.

The replacement building would be erected on a fully operational site, so the fire station needed a contractor which could create a new facility with little impact on its daily activities and be built within a restricted time frame. Premier Modular was appointed by Ridge and Partners LLP as the principal contractor, and asked to design and deliver a two-storey modular building that would provide space for work, training, and welfare facilities.

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The Building

To create the new purpose-built space, the modular training facility was constructed using 20 modules across two-storeys, comprising 435m² per floor, complete with a main entrance staircase and separate fire exit staircase. As part of the full turnkey design, Premier Modular also worked on the site’s groundworks ahead of the building installation.

The building’s ground floor provided a functional training facility. This included equipment stores and space for fire kit, drying areas, shower rooms for use after training, a main plant room and training briefing area. The first-floor facilities featured offices, meeting rooms, a training room, plus a breakout room with kitchen. Despite the training facility being a standalone building, linking systems, such as access control, were installed to improve operations across the wider site.

As an integral part of the community, it was important for the building to be both functional and adaptable so it could be used for training and local events. Folding partitions were included in rooms for flexibility so the space could be adapted depending on its use. Outside, a canopy was installed to offer shelter to visitors and fire crew, and an eye-catching cladding in ‘fire red’ was fitted as a feature around the building to create a unique and aesthetically pleasing finished look.