Spennymoor fire station was one of the 5 fire stations designed by Napper Architects for the regional fire authority grouping of Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Durham which came together to form the NEFRA bidding consortium. The NEFRA project consists of four community response fire stations together with a combined community fire station and brigade headquarters building. The buildings respond to the fire and rescue service demands for prevention and education.
Procurement was through the continued dialogue process and the fire station design is regarded as an exemplar design. Napper subsequently feature as a contributor to the DCLG publication of “Achieving Design Quality in Fire & Rescue Buildings”, which acts as core design guidance for the next wave of emergency service buildings. NEFRA were the biggest winners at the 2011 National Partnerships Bulletin Awards securing the ‘Best Accommodation’ category. In a unanimous decision by the judges NEFRA went on to win the “Grand Prix” award, topping a strong shortlist of international projects, for delivering outstanding improvement in public service for the benefit of communities.
Spennymoor and Bishop Auckland stations have been used as “exemplars” by Durham Fire and Rescue Service to inform their 2012-2015 estates improvement programme with the base design being refined and amended to respond to the specifics of each site.
