AECOM delivered multidisciplinary services for a project to extend the headquarters of the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) in the UK. The £8.5 million development has extended the existing headquarters to create a new emergency control centre where 999 calls are received, as well as interactive training rooms and additional administrative areas.
The extension accommodates all ECFRS’s headquarter employees under the same roof for the first time, as emergency control staff were previously located in another part of Essex. Putting all the employees together will improve efficiency and create a single delivery point for ECFRS.
The building includes an additional 2,500m2 of floor space – the equivalent of nine tennis courts – across two levels. The extension incorporates a series of sustainable measures including ‘pond-based heat pumps’ – a central heating system that transfers heat from the ground, as well as roof mounted photovoltaic panels for electricity.
London Gateway is the UK’s first 21st Century major deep-sea container port and Europe’s largest logistics park, and AECOM is leading the way to ensure this much anticipated project becomes a reality.
Covering more than 1,800 acres (728 hectares), the project will transform a former oil refinery into a modern, fully automated, multi-modal container terminal capable of handling some of the largest ships in the world. We prepared the appropriate applications to the UK government on behalf of the client and acted as the lead assessor for the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment, including managing and coordinating all environmental studies and completing Environmental Statements (ES) under three separate components, as well as the overarching project ES. This ES is one of the largest ever produced in the United Kingdom.
Our multi-discipline approach to the consent applications required coordinating several of AECOM’s core competencies including:
- Contaminated land and hazardous materials
- Dredged material and land reclamation
- Environmental Impact Assessment
- Geotechnical investigations
- Rail planning and engineering
- Sustainable development
- Transportation planning
A large portion of the facility will be used for a warehousing and distribution center serviced by rail and road. Improvements to existing rail lines, roadways, and service roads will increase access to the facility. The 2-mile long wharf will be constructed on reclaimed riverbank and the river and seabed will be dredged 40 nautical miles out into the North Sea.
Situated on the north bank of the River Thames near Thurrock in Essex, London Gateway will provide unrivalled shipping access for the world’s leading businesses to an integrated road, rail and sea network.