The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service National Training Centre is a purpose-built training facility in

Cambuslang Cambuslang ( sco, Cammuslang, from gd, Camas Lang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a ...

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

. Also known as the Uaill Training Centre, it has mock buildings and areas suitable for training to use specialist fire and rescue equipment. It opened in January 2013 and is operated by the

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS; gd, Seirbheis Smàlaidh agus Teasairginn na h-Alba) is the national fire and rescue service of Scotland. It was formed by the merger of eight regional fire services in the country on 1 April 2013. ...

(SFRS).

History

A project team lead was appointed in 2007 create a new fire training centre for the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service. A site was eventually identified at Clydesmill, on the south bank of the

River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

near Westburn, previously a large power station. A linked project was also approved to close the existing local stations at Cambuslang (near its Main Street, built in 1970) and

Parkhead Parkhead ( sco, Pairkheid) is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necropo ...

(built 1952), and combine them in a new community station at Clydesmill, which was completed in 2011. Its community room is named after Enoch Humphries, former

Fire Brigades Union The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime firefighters (including officers up to chief fire officer / firemaster), retained firefighters and emergency control room staff. History The first recorded inst ...

president who had links to the area. Construction of the facility took 77weeks and cost £43million. The buildings were completed in April 2012. The official opening was in January 2013, shortly before all eight of Scotland's fire services merged in April 2013. With the centre up and running, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service College Gullane closed in March 2015.

Design

The centre was designed by Cooper Cromar. It is built beside the Clyde on the site of the former Clydesmill Power Station, near to the village of Westburn, with

National Cycle Route 75 National Cycle Route 75 runs from Edinburgh to Gourock via Glasgow. It is often known as the ''Clyde to Forth cycle route''. It then extends via the ferry from Gourock to Dunoon onto the Cowal peninsula to Portavadie from where another ferry co ...

and the

Clyde walkway The Clyde Walkway is a foot and mountain bike path which runs from Glasgow, Scotland, to just above the UNESCO World Heritage Site of New Lanark. The path runs close to the River Clyde for most of its length. It was completed in 2005, and is no ...

running alongside; it is a short distance from Junctions 2A and 3 of the

M74 motorway The A74(M) and M74 form a major motorway in Scotland, connecting it to England. The routes connect the M8 motorway in central Glasgow to the Scottish-English border at Gretna. In conjunction with their southward continuation, the M6 motorwa ...

. The site includes an academic building, a practical facilities building and three hazard zones. There is a mock town with roads, rail tracks and buildings, including a multi-storey tenement structure. The academic buildings were given a

BREEAM BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, is the world's longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of ...

rating of 'excellent'. A Technical Rescue Training Zone (TRTZ) supports specialist search and rescue training.

References

Fire and rescue in Scotland Firefighting academies Organisations supported by the Scottish Government Vocational education in Scotland Educational organisations based in Scotland Buildings and structures in Cambuslang Buildings and structures in South Lanarkshire {{firefighting-stub