In recent years, budget challenges have forced all of us to be more creative when developing new fire facilities. While construction costs have fallen somewhat, primarily as the result of greater competition for fewer available opportunities, they have done so in unison with falling tax revenues. Further, neither costs nor revenues have been stable or predictable, which has resulted in heightened public scrutiny when it comes to funding new constructions.

In these uncertain times, collocation has emerged as a salient solution that offers civic managers and elected officials a responsible and effective alternative to developing multiple new facilities. Collocation is the placement of multiple entities in a single location or within a single shared facility, in order to improve operations, services and/or reduce costs.

Often, when multiple agencies are combined within one primary facility, floor area savings and reduced site development costs will result, perhaps as much as 25% in some cases. The sharing of services, utilities, and maintenance costs also can yield savings in annual operational expenses.

In addition to cost savings, a multitude of other benefits can be achieved through collocation, including information- and resource-sharing, as well as the development of relationships across agencies for improved delivery of public services (i.e., a “one-stop-shop”).

However, every situation is unique, and it is important to note that despite all of the potential advantages, there may be issues and challenges with which to contend. First and foremost, consideration must be given to the identification of compatible facility partners, and in many cases legal and/or regulatory barriers prevent full integration of some agencies. There also may be circumstances in which “turf war” and protectionism issues surface between partnering agencies that are reluctant to share funds and resources.

Nevertheless, there are many reasons for considering collocation, as follows.

• Only one site needs to be acquired and developed
• Reduced administrative costs
• Reduced construction costs 
• Reduced annual operational costs
• Reduced annual maintenance costs
• Shorter engineering and construction timelines 
• Improved facility management 
• More efficient use of resources
• Improved service to public 
• Enhanced identity and community presence

In April of this year, as part of FIRE CHIEF’s annual Station Style Conference, two of my colleagues and I spoke about the growing trend of fire departments collocating with other agencies in a single facility or complex. In our presentation, we pointed out benefits and issues associated with collocating agencies based upon experience and research in the design of joint-use facilities. Some of the potential combinations that were discussed included: fire/law enforcement; fire/law enforcement/court; fire/law enforcement/communications; and fire/government administration. We considered both urban and rural settings, as well as career and volunteer departments.

DOWNLOAD: "Co-Location of Agencies" Presentation

In this afternoon break-out session, we were very fortunate to have a lively group of participants from a variety of agencies that were in the early stages of considering collocation strategies. With eight distinct project case studies serving as the foundation, the presentation evolved into a forum of very productive discussions pertaining to individual circumstances and preliminary concepts.

With time growing short in the session we realized that the final, and most significant, example would need to be covered in more detail at a later date. As promised to the group, the remainder of this article will explore this highly relevant project that encompasses an array of the benefits and issues associated with the collocation of several entities into a single large contiguous complex, including the fire department.

Project type: Multifunctional government center

Completion date: August 2011.

Construction type: Concrete (post-tensioned, cast-in-place and pre-cast); structural-steel deck and framing; and stainless-steel tubing.