Establishment 1962
 

Establishment 1980s
 

Establishment 2000

The Staff are split over four watches (Red, Blue, Green and White) 1 Station Officer, 1 Sub Officer, 1 Leading Firefighter and 11 Firefighters working 2 days, 2 nights and 4 days off. Water Tenders are normally manned 5 and 4.

REDEDICATION OF CASTLEMILK FIRE STATION

26^th March 2013 

<PHOTOS> Castlemilk Fire Station, 1962; Prior to building work; The diggers move in. 

CHIEF OFFICER’S FOREWORD 

Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to welcome you to Castlemilk Community Fire Station for its rededication. Today we celebrate the many courageous men and women who have served the people of Glasgow from this place, and extend our hopes for the safety of all those who will do so in the years to come.
We all know that firefighters are at the heart of their communities. Strathclyde Fire & Rescue is made up of ordinary members of the public who give extraordinary dedication to our fellow citizens. This newly refurbished station is of course a base for those protectors of the public, but it is a great community asset in other ways too.
Prior to this refurbishment, our local partners identified an urgent need for a space for groups to stage activities within this part of Castlemilk. This station now includes a new community room, which will be available for use by residents of the area and will provide a place where our fire reach courses can be held. The room will be well used. It will add great value to the area and, most importantly, it will help develop the strong and enduring relationship between members of the public and their Fire Service. In the fight to protect people from fire and prevent tragedy striking our communities, this Service knows the tremendous worth of that partnership.
Local suppliers, shops and tradespeople have contributed to this new facility. An unemployed labourer was hired by the construction company, MITIE, and given training in site safety and a number of different trades to greatly improve his prospects within the industry Prisoners at HMP Barlinnie also learned new skills to help them forge new careers on their release.
With help from Ardenglen Housing Association and the Teen Zone Youth Committee, this project has also delivered another great community resource with the refurbishment of the local football pitch. The pitch not only gave this community a place for sports, it made it safer — reducing fire-related anti-social behaviour cutting significantly the number of fires.
So, as we gather to rededicate Castlemilk Community Fire Station, we can take pride in its contribution to the area and its residents. We thank our staff and our partners who helped bring this initiative to fruition. We re-affirm our goal that it will always be a valuable asset for the community; we express our unwavering support for those brave firefighters who will protect the public from this base; and we salute all those who went before 

Brian P Sweeney
Chief Officer, Strathclyde Fire & Rescue

ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS 

WELCOME
Station Commander John Young 

OPENING REMARKS
Area Commander David Proctor 

COMMUNITY BENEFITS
Fiona McGovern (Ardenglen Housing Association) 

CHIEF OFFICER’S OPENING REMARKS
Chief Officer Brian P Sweeney QFSM DUniv. MA 

LORD PROVOST’S REMARKS
The Rt Hon The Lord Provost of Glasgow
Councillor Sadie Docherty 

REDEDICATION OF STATION
Father Jim Thomson and Reverend Gordon Armstrong 

CONVENER’S REMARKS
Councillor Joe Lowe (Convener of the Board of SFR) 

UNVEILING OF PLAQUE
Chief Officer Brian P Sweeney and Councillor Joe Lowe 

CLOSING REMARKS
Chief Officer Brian P Sweeney

BUFFET

CASTLEMILK COMMUNITY FIRE STATION 

Castlemilk Fire Station was officially opened on the 14th September 1962 by the Lord Provost of Glasgow Mrs Jean Roberts. This was the fifteenth station in the city of Glasgow.
The original station was designed by Archibald George Jury, City Architect for Glasgow (1951 — 1972). The cost of the original build was £62,000 which according to Lord Provost Roberts amounted to an outlay of one shilling a week in rates for the security of a First class service across the city. The building programme in 1962 saw a huge investment in the provision of new fire stations across Glasgow with Pollok Fire Station being opened in April 1962 and Castlemilk’s identical twin station being opened in Easterhouse in 1964.
The refurbishment of Castlemilk was carried out over two phases with phase one commencing in January 2012 by Clark Contracts. This saw an extension being built onto the original office accommodation to create a new Community Room which will prove to be a valuable resource for the local community. This will be utilised by residents groups, youth committees and local partnership organisations to deliver and encourage community safety messages and increase partnership working to make Castlemilk and greater Glasgow safer places to live, work and visit.
Phase 2 saw the accommodation side of the station being completely demolished, and a new two storey accommodation and training suite being built fit for the 21st century by Mitie Contracts. BMJ architects who designed and managed the entire project in collaboration with SFR’s property section and Project Manager Claire Owens have delivered a fantastic environmentally efficient building we can all be very proud of. The use of Solar panels and energy efficient heating and insulation materials will also help to reduce the carbon footprint which is so important for today’s environmental protection.
Over the last 50 years the station has provided much needed protection to the local communities of Castlemilk, Croftfoot, Simshill, Mertylee, Cathcart and Muirend Areas.
Some well-known members of our current Corporate Management Team learned their trade and honed their skills during appointments at Castlemilk. Chief Officer Brian Sweeney served here as a Temporary Station Officer in 1990, ACO Robert Scott and DACO Garry Milne also served time here at Castlemilk. All of them have a place in Castlemilk’s history and have always shown a keen interest in the development of the Station.

COMMUNITY BENEFITS 

The Community Benefits aspect of this project which is now contained in every public sector tender contract over a certain value resulted in a local unemployed construction labourer being employed for the duration of phase two to keep the site clean and safe, as well as working alongside the other trades learning new skills to take forward and increase his employability for the future.
Partnership with Barlinnie Prison saw the mesh lockers for fire kit being constructed by inmates training in metal fabrication and working towards SVQ qualifications. Refurbishment of a disused local football pitch by MITIE has given back a community space for outdoor activity to youth groups. This will be used to assist in our local sports diversionary programme managed by the Teen Zone Youth Committee and supported by Ardenglen and Northview Housing associations.
Local partnership working is fundamental to reducing fire related incidents and the Station will use our new facilities to best advantage in meeting our community responsibilities.
<PHOTOS> A local unemployed construction labourer received industry training with MITIE.
MITIE also refurbished a disused local football pitch.
<DRAWINGS> of the station (2).

If you know of any mistakes in this or have any additional information please let me know.