Are you trying to decide whether to tear down your old fire station and start over or just renovate and add-on because there are parts of your station that really work?
Six years ago, I interviewed Bob Mitchell, Mitchell Associate Architects, in a podcast about renovating fire stations. His advice back then is still relevant today.
“People start from the point of view that it will be less expensive than building new,” Mitchell said. “Sometimes that’s so and other times not so.”
There is often a sense of perceived value in the existing structure and funds for part of it. “Sometimes the structure is in such poor condition that the goal is to make it go away as much as possible,” he said. In the case of a historic or unique building, the desire to preserve the building is an issue that fire departments often wrestle over.
Delving further into this topic, Mitchell will be presenting “Your Old Fire Station—Renovate or Knock It Down?” as part of the 2019 Station Design Conference, May 14-16, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Rosemont, IL. Mitchell has more than 25 years of experience designing fire stations and more than 40 years in design and construction. He has been directly involved in over 280 fire stations and emergency services facilities, with 58 of these involved renovations and addition.
Mitchell recently developed the “basis of design” for future fire stations for the City of Philadelphia to address firefighter safety and health, integrated training features and gender equity. He then applied these designs to a study of nine existing Philadelphia fire stations to demonstrate that they could be brought up to modern standards.
On a similar topic, the Station Design Conference will also feature the Center Township’s Volunteer Fire Department (CTVFD) in LaPorte, IN, which has been working for 12 years on replacing its 60-year old building with a new fire station. CTVFD is a 25-member volunteer fire department covering about 28 square miles of rural to suburban emergency responsibilities in northwest Indiana. According to Rod Carringer, project manager and life member of the department, they had a “long wish list and a small budget.”
The presentation will offer three distinct views of the ups and downs of this project—one from a Life Member, Carringer; one from the Center Township’s trustee, Lisa Pierzakowski; and one from Stephen Kromkowski, the architect.
The surprise ending to this case study is that Center Township’s fire department is in the process of moving into their new station as I write this article!
If you are on the fence about renovating or building new, attend the 2019 Station Design Conference and learn how to decide for yourself. Learn more and register at www.fhstationdesign.com.
