Ministerial visit to joint working buildings

Tim Passmore welcomed Baroness Hanham, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government to Landmark house last week.

Suffolk has become a pathfinder in collaborative working with public sector partners across its property estate and Baroness Hanham visited some of our joint working buildings to see for herself how the project works in practice. She visited Elmswell Police/Fire Station and Landmark House.

The vision for the Single Public Sector Estate (SPSE) was a single front door approach to customer service and greater efficiency by collaboration to help deliver this. Suffolk Constabulary work with Suffolk County Council (SCC) at Landmark House and with Suffolk Fire and Rescue in joint police-fire stations at Framlingham, Debenham, Ixworth and Elmswell.

Landmark House

The Landmark House collaboration between SCC and Suffolk Constabulary opened in August 2012. This new office building in the north-west of Ipswich will create long-term financial benefits for both authorities and improve services. 850 people in teams from both organisations, such as the council’s Trading Standards team and the Police Economic Crime Unit, are now able to work more closely together and share specialised storage facilities. The joint saving for both organisations over the life of the building is expected to be £30 million. It has been possible to also provide on the site a specialist storage facility for Trading Standards and Police, where a range of materials, including those required for evidence, are managed under a single regime.

Elmswell Police/Fire Station

Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Police have been jointly involved in a project to share bases at fire stations in the villages of Framligham, Debenham, Elmswell and Ixworth.
Fire and police staff have successfully been working together, sharing new office space, an interview room, a community room and other facilities. Improved access facilities for disabled people are also provided as part of the project.
The combined working arrangements create savings through improved energy efficiency with staff working from one building instead of two, plus better equipment and facilities

Caption l-r: Supt Martin Ransome, Suffolk Constabulary; Lucy Robinson, SCC Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Economy, Skills and Environment; Tim Passmore, Police and Crime Commissioner; Baroness Hanham