City of Lethbridge

New Fire Headquarters

To improve emergency response and operational efficiency, the City of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada moved multiple critical city functions into a single building: the fire department, an emergency operations center, the 9-1-1 call center, the fire marshal’s headquarters, and the City’s IT center and fitness facility. The multi-firm team designed a public safety facility on the City’s most prominent downtown corner at the entrance to the City.

The site posed unique challenges in the form of extremely strong western winds, a small footprint, and difficult access for returning apparatuses. Encompassing 30,000 square feet across four stories, the team met these challenges by strengthening the western face and acquiring easements from the surrounding properties to increase driving space. Additionally, the building is 48% more energy efficient than required and meets the Green Globes sustainability standard.

Architect of Record: Pacheco Ross Architects, P.C. and Ferrari Westwood Babits Architects

Awards
Fire Chief Magazine Station Style Design Awards – Gold 2012