We’re proud to announce that we’ve completed construction on
an important project for the town of Scituate: a brand new Public Safety
Building which will be home to Scituate’s police and fire departments. This
structure will house the personnel, equipment, and resources needed to keep
local residents safe while saving the town millions of dollars per year- an
increasingly popular model for municipalities across the country.
For Scituate, the story of this project begins several years
ago, when the town decided it was time to modernize their aging police and fire
infrastructure and reduce emergency response times. The contract to build the
facility was put up for bid under the Design-Bid-Build model, which we have
often promoted as the superior method for commissioning construction projects.
CTA Construction was awarded the contract to build the facility and began work
on January 4, 2016.
Work progressed very smoothly on the project as a result of
strong collaboration between CTA, the project’s architect Dore & Whittier,
the owner’s project manager Vertex and town officials. Its completion this week
means that we will have finished the facility according to the schedule laid
out at the beginning of the process. Much of the credit for the smooth
development process and on-time completion goes to CTA Project Manager Jared
Dugan and Superintendents on site Brian McCourt and John Dillon, who oversaw
this project from beginning to end.
We’re proud to turn over this facility to Scituate’s police
and fire services, both of which should have everything they need to do their
important jobs well. One feature of note is the Emergency Operations Center
(EOC) in the building- a combined “mission control” hub for dispatchers and
police and fire officials to jointly manage crises and coordinate response
efforts.
The EOC is a great example of why more and more
municipalities are turning to Public Safety facilities like this one instead of
the traditional model of separate police and fire stations. Combining these
services under one roof allows police and fire services, which typically work
hand-in-hand anyway, to more closely coordinate their efforts and to respond to
emergencies together. From a budgetary perspective, uniting their services
under one roof is a big cost-saver for towns, which are constantly on the
lookout for ways to utilize tax dollars more efficiently.
Our own experience confirms the reports that these types of
facilities are growing more popular. We have noticed more municipalities
commissioning the construction of combined public safety buildings, and have
been at the forefront of delivering on them for towns across Massachusetts. In
fact, we’ve also finished construction on a similar public safety facility in
Lunenberg. Expect to see more of these structures in the coming years as towns
seek to save money while better coordinating their emergency services.
