Housebuilder donates unused office to police dog training unit

A former office building in Glasgow’s Anniesland, owned by housebuilder Mactaggart & Mickel, is set to become a training facility for Police Scotland’s dog training unit. 

The company has donated the use of the unused space after a chance encounter allowed the police officer responsible for the unit to see the building in person. 

Following a suspected break-in, which turned out to be a false alarm, PC Alex Bell visited the building. Whilst there, the officer realised it could be an ideal location for future Police Scotland dog training. 

The building’s stairwells, hidden spaces and partitioned areas makes it a suitable location to train young dogs to search and locate. The property also has a perimeter fence. 

PC Alex Bell said, “It is usually our dogs who use their noses to sniff out potential situations, so we are delighted to have found this new space for our crucial dog training. The building couldn’t be more perfect for what we need, and it will allow us to properly train our police dogs for real life scenarios. We are grateful to all businesses who support us by providing training spaces and the use of the building on Herschell Street is no exception. It means a lot to us and will allow us to use resources in other ways which can only improve our training and ensure that we have the very best police dogs out on the streets of Scotland keeping the public safe.”

Joanne Casey, director at Mactaggart & Mickel added, “It’s great news that Police Scotland can utilise the empty office building on Herschell Street to assist the complex training that the dog unit carries out. We have a long and proud history of supporting good causes in and around our developments and even though this is slightly unique compared to our usual community support, we are delighted to help and it’s a great use of the space ahead of our planned development in 2021.”