SMITH Scott Mullan Associates has revealed that its remodelling and retrofit of McDonald Road community fire station has been completed.
The facility will become the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s City of Edinburgh HQ.
Smith Scott Mullan explained that the design approach was to ‘rationalise’ the internal layout of the building to improve its street presence with identifiable entrances. The existing building was described as a ‘mish-mash’ of spaces that had been altered in a piecemeal fashion over time.
The design has reorganised the building to create a series of connected spaces, allowing the building to multi-task as a live fire station, HQ and a museum of fire heritage, due to open later this year.
Externally, the strategy was to acknowledge the existing mix of horizontal and vertical elements and the ‘inconsistent’ nature of the structural grid, adopting a defined top and bottom around the principal corner at Dryden Terrace.
Smith Scott Mullan added that this approach created a vertical ribbed screen along the ground floor, behind which sit the more private functions and opening up key areas of the building including the museum, principal rooms and main entrances.
The appearance and energy performance of the building are said to have been ‘completely transformed’ by replacing the external envelope. Smith Scott Mullan revealed that the retention of the existing concrete frame has saved 150,000kg of carbon dioxide compared to demolition.
The project was delivered with main contractor Robertson Group, with project management, structural, mechanical and electrical engineering from Pick Everard and principal designer F3 Building Surveyors.
