New fire service HQ opens at Newbridge in Edinburgh

Launch of new fire service centre at Newbridge.

Chair of the SFRS Board, Pat Watters and Chief Officer, Alasdair Hay, formally opened the new East Service Delivery Headquarters and Asset Resource Centre at Newbridge, today.

The headquarters are part of a £1.9million investment in the East of the country.

It brings together 130 staff under one roof and pools the experience and expertise of teams from across Response and Resilience, Prevention and Protection, ICT and Maintenance.

The new base combines three facilities that had reached the end of their operational life – Lauriston Place in Edinburgh, Maddiston in Falkirk and Thornton in Fife - ensuring the SFRS has the resource needed to ensure the safety of communities across the East.

The new facility will be led by John Miller, Deputy Assistant Chief Officer who has responsibility for service delivery across the East serves a population of 1.6 million people, based across a wide ranging geography of some 7,700 square kilometres. Our East area crews are based at 65 fire stations.

The area includes Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh and the areas of Clackmannanshire, Stirling, Falkirk, West and East Lothian, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and Fife.

The facility also supports partnership working between SFRS and Police Scotland, which sees the maintenance of police fleet vehicles onsite.

Chair of the SFRS Board, Pat Watters said: “I am absolutely delighted to announce the formal opening of our new Headquarters and state-of-the-art Asset Resource Centre here at Newbridge.

“There can be no clearer demonstration of our commitment to keeping our communities safe across the East - by bringing together our very best expertise and experience under one roof.

Chief Officer Alasdair Hay said: “I’d like to personally thank all of the staff involved for their hard work to ensure the move was delivered seamlessly, and for engaging so positively with the new facility.

“This new location gives us huge potential to extend our future capabilities in key areas such as training and development.”