Outdated fire station transforms into new blue light hub using Archicad

An outdated 1980s fire station has been transformed into a collaborative new blue light hub for Suffolk police and fire services, using a deep retrofit approach and Archicad.

Designed and delivered by Concertus, the project set out to combine the main Ipswich buildings for Suffolk Police and Suffolk Fire and Rescue into one, as part of a wider programme to upgrade facilities while reducing operational costs for all blue light services across the country.

Archicad for engineers

“The whole company uses Archicad – one software is used by everybody including architects and engineers,” explains Luke Foley, BIM Manager at Concertus. “This means the design process is highly efficient as everyone can see the most up to date information straight away. There is no need to wait for external consultants or engineers to send their files so that we can update the model.

“Each team works in its own Archicad model, with all models hot-linked together. These are hosted in Graphisoft’s BIMcloud, ensuring seamless collaboration as everyone can see the latest information instantly.”

A deep retrofit approach

Suffolk County Council’s preference is to re-use existing buildings wherever possible and initial feasibility tests were carried out to look at the financial viability of refurbishment versus building a new station. The Council opted for a deep retrofit, stripping the building back to its original structural concrete frame.

“We used the existing footprint of the fire station building, and completely reconfigured the layout to allow for segregation between police and fire services,” says Laura Morris De’ath, Associate at Concertus. “Meanwhile, we added an additional floor above the fire tender bay to house dormitories for firefighters on call overnight.

“Another key part of the design was the addition of a firefighter’s pole to enable fast access from the dormitories to the ground floor. This is a complex requirement which our design teams worked into the structural and architectural plans for the building.”

The remodelled building includes some shared areas, while other areas are completely segregated. Access control for safeguarding and data protection was a key requirement, and this was largely achieved through the installation of electronic ironmongery in certain areas of the building.

Digital design workflow

The architectural and landscaping team worked within Archicad, while the structural engineers deployed a library of complex profiles paired with commonly used columns and beams to develop the structural model.

To model the building services, the team opted for a combination of Library Part Maker and scripting to create their Archicad objects. With each of the models complete, the multi-disciplinary team ran their models through Archicad’s collision checking to minimise the risk of clashes.

Luke continues: “Within Concertus, we use many of the out-of-the-box tools within Archicad. For this project, the renovation filters were particularly useful for looking at different design options and the change manager tool helped us to easily identify which parts of the design had changed.”

A challenging build

Before work began, the Princes Street Fire Service was relocated to a temporary modular building for 12 months. And when demolition of the original structure started, the team discovered that the existing fire station hadn’t been constructed to the original as built design drawings. Concertus therefore needed to undertake further demolition of the unstable structures and carry out a major structural redesign.

“The Archicad model was very important in helping us to address the problem with the original structure. We worked very closely with the contractor to overcome these challenges and kept the client fully involved throughout, ensuring the project was delivered as planned and within budget,” says Laura.

Completed in August 2022, Princes Street Fire and Police Station is the largest blue light hub of its kind in Suffolk, with the new building providing modern and efficient accommodation for approximately 40 fire service staff and 24 police staff.

The Fire Service and Police Safer Neighbourhood Team is now operating from the new station, providing blue light services for the whole community from the centre of Ipswich.

This article is courtesy of Graphisoft. Learn more about the leader in BIM technologies by visiting their website. Graphisoft’s mission is to empower teams of building professionals to create great architecture.