Southampton Operations Command Unit

Construction commenced on site in May 2009 with a completion date planned for December 2010. Building to date has progressed rapidly with the concrete slab and columns to the tower in place as of end 2009. The project team is also working on the Occupation element of the project involving relocation of staff from various locations in the city. The building is due to be fully occupied from early April 2011.

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The current OCU in the centre of Southampton is Hampshire’s biggest and is within the Civic Centre, built in the 1920s. It is totally unfit for modern purposes and the City require vacant possession in three or four years to carry out major works.

A site had been purchased in a key location near the main rail station and on one of the main road arteries into the city. Initial feasibility and briefing studies had been carried out to produce an outline proposal demonstrating the overall approach and configuration on the site.

The Constabulary engaged with the IESE (Improvement Efficiency South East) process and a Design and Build contract was awarded to Kier who appointed Broadway Malyan as the architect to design a landmark building for the city.

The design development process produced the current design on a value engineering basis. The custody suite design was also revised from 42 to 36 cell accommodation, involving consultation with the Home Office.

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It was considered valuable to have used the Home Office enabling service as enablers are well used to dealing with projects of the scale of this one – a £38M new OCU. Enabling had included use of the CIC’s DQI.

Home Office design review was also requested, as involvement with this process would help with the planning authorities who wanted a "landmark cum gateway" building on this major route into the city. Hampshire Constabulary will continue to work with the Home Office on design reviews and DQIs which is seen as a useful check on whether or not the project is keeping to the original aspirations.

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The original case study, prepared by David Elliott, Estates Manager, Hampshire Constabulary, can be found at the Home Office’s publication “Police Buildings: Design Policy”

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