Derelict land at a former gasworks in Nottingham will be turned into a new custody suite run by Nottinghamshire Police, after city council planners gave it the go-ahead today.
The state-of-the-art 50-cell complex is planned for the Radford Road site and will eventually replace the current custody suite at Bridewell.
The new facility will serve Nottingham and the wider conurbation and so its new location will be a significant improvement in terms of proximity to demand and travel times for the police.
Nottingham City Council planners today agreed the plans for the facility, which is due to be operational by March 2021.
Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping said: “The current building cannot be brought up to modern standards and will eventually not comply with national guidance around health and safety.
“The new suite will be a bespoke facility with the layout designed to optimise efficiency, support effective investigations and to be fit for the 21st century.
“This new build will not only develop the gasworks site, which has remained empty for many years, but will also provide some local employment opportunities too.”
Nottinghamshire Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford added: “There really is no alternative other than to build a new custody suite. To update our current facilities will be too costly in the long run.
“It is important that people in custody are kept safe and the new suite will enable us to do that.
“The present Bridewell facility is over three floors and it is not easy to manage prisoners here. This new suite is more efficient and is also in a much better location for us to be able to police the whole of Nottinghamshire in the most efficient and effective way. I hope it will create new jobs locally too.”
He added as the new suite will be built at the former Gasworks site near to Radford Road Police Station, this will also mean officers can quickly return to their duties once booking in suspects.
The Bridewell opened in Canal Street next to the city’s Magistrates’ Court in the mid-90s. Around 12,000 people pass through the Bridewell each year.
The new custody suite would be spread across one floor, with modern cells and a purpose-built room for custody images, fingerprints and DNA to be taken.
Construction company Wilmott Dixon will be delivering the project with plans to host 100 weeks’ worth of apprenticeships for young people in the area, as well as exploring options to improve the energy efficiency and environmental credentials of the building and its surroundings.
The police will now look to secure a buyer for the Bridewell building, which the force owns.