New police headquarters in Wakefield

Police officers and staff in Wakefield will start moving into their new headquarters in Normanton today.

Work began on the multi-million pound facility on Havertop Lane, Normanton, back in July 2012 and is on target to be finished on schedule. The 11,500m² building will accommodate a number of operational teams including the Normanton & Featherstone Neighbourhood Policing Team, response teams and CID, as well as providing a 35 cell custody suite and office accommodation for staff.

A number of teams will start moving in to the new facility and their transfer will be phased to ensure minimal disruption to the service provided to the public of Wakefield. The building will be fully operational by Monday, 23 December.

The state of the art building will host a new public enquiry counter which will supplement the existing public enquiry counters at Wood Street Police Station in Wakefield, Pontefract Police Station and the public access point at the Castleford Neighbourhood Policing Team base in Castleford Fire station. The other six Neighbourhood Policing Teams will remain based across the District providing a local, visible, accessible policing presence within their communities.

The Wakefield Divisional Headquarters is one of three Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects which will provide new facilities for policing teams in the county. Work still continues on the Leeds District Headquarters and the Specialist Operational training centre at Carr Gate, with both on track to be fully operational by April 2014.

Under the PFI model, the contractors Interserve will provide facilities management services, including cleaning, repairs and ground maintenance, for the next 25 years.