Government award for South Park station build

One Team Award

The team behind Lincoln's joint ambulance, fire and police station has won a Government Property Award.

The £21m tri-service emergency centre is a ground-breaking example of exceptional collaborative working.

The ' One Team Award' was one of the categories in the awards hosted by the Cabinet Office, recognising excellence in public sector property.

Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, Cllr Martin Hill, said: "The new station represents a significant achievement by all organisations. It shows that not only do we work in a joined up way, but that we think bigger about what we can achieve together to benefit our residents.

"This type of project can be really complex, but in Lincolnshire we have well-established partnership working and a great track-record of delivering ambitious builds. This award shows the government have clearly recognised this."

The station has also been recognised locally, winning Development Project of the Year (over £5million) in the Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce Awards.

Police and Crime Commissioner, Marc Jones, said: “I am delighted the South Park station has been recognised by the Cabinet Office.

“As the first tri-station in the UK, the development will revolutionise the way the three emergency services work together – providing a better service to the public and doing so for less cost too.

“The station is the embodiment of the innovative spirit of agencies in Lincolnshire and is just another example of how the county is at the forefront of a pioneering approach to keeping our communities safe.”

The award was presented to representatives of the project team on Tuesday 25th February 2020.

Sue Cousland, General Manager for the Lincolnshire Division of EMAS said: “We are absolutely thrilled that the close collaboration with our fellow emergency service colleagues from Police and Fire has been officially recognised at a national level.

“Where we all had three old sites across the county for our emergency services, we now operate under one roof, which means not only are we are being more cost effective, we are able to provide a more effective service to the community we all serve.

"The building is superb with much better facilities for all of the staff who are based there. The two joint training rooms also provide us with very valuable opportunities to learn from and support each other, particularly in relation to structured incident de-briefs. This more detailed information means we are constantly able to further develop our response strategies."

The build was managed by Lincolnshire County Council with contractors Wilmott Dixon. It was funded by the council, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and £7.5m of government funding. The project team behind it also included Lincolnshire Police, East Midlands Ambulance Service, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, VINCI, Kier and Willmott Dixon.

Chief Inspector Pat Coates from Lincolnshire Police, said: "Together we've delivered a building that is modern, fit for purpose and will enable future partnership working between the emergency services to provide a better service to the public. We are already seeing some of these benefits - when responding to incidents requiring multiple agencies, staff already know each other from sharing the building enabling a better response."

Published: 6th March 2020