SA seeks new emergency services HQ
South Australia has gone to market to find new mixed-use headquarters for the State Emergency Service (SES), Country Fire Service (CFS) and South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission (SAFECOM).
Emergency Services Minister Chris Picton said the new accommodation will include state-of-the-art control centres to enhance operational effectiveness of volunteer-based emergency services.
The announcement was made alongside SES Chief Officer Chris Beattie and CFS Chief Officer Greg Nettleton.
Minister Picton said the decision to commit to new headquarters accommodation is designed to enable more effective management of day-to-day operations and provide essential support to emergency services volunteers and staff.
“Emergency Services have advised us of the limitations with existing facilities,” he said.
The state government has commenced a market call requesting proposals from the private sector to satisfy accommodation requirements under commercial lease arrangements.
The new headquarters will require around 5,500 m2 of floor space in an earthquake-hardened building with damage-resilient services.
The emergency services sector is looking for proposals that can deliver the operational facilities, corporate office accommodation, storage, building services, utilities, car parking, fencing and security, as would be expected for a modern emergency services headquarters.
Submissions will be received for the next four weeks, and a long-term lease will be negotiated following an evaluation of proposals.
“The current CFS/SES headquarters has been in place since 2000 and has served those services during many emergencies and incidents, but it has now reached the point where it is no longer a modern headquarters meeting our needs,” said Minister Picton.
“Over the past year we have been working on the future needs of the services and we are now at a point where we’re able to commence an approach to market.”
Beattie said that concept designs for the layout and fitout of the State Control Centres have been prepared to maximise situational awareness and visibility of information and data from the agencies’ crisis management, intelligence and warnings systems.
“We look forward to improved operational conditions in the new headquarters which will benefit our community,” he said.
Nettleton said that whilst all proposals from the market call will be evaluated on merit, the future facility will ideally be located within 5 km of the CBD terraces, on suitable transport routes for access and egress, away from flight paths and earthquake fault lines, and outside 1-in-100-year flood risk areas.
“A new headquarters will enhance service delivery through increased operational performance, better situational awareness, improved effectiveness and much more efficient operational and administrative areas,” he said.
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