Merseyside Police’s new state of the art headquarters has opened its doors today, Monday, October 25.
The new building, located on Rose Hill in Liverpool, officially opened for business as the keys were handed over to the Police Commissioner and Chief Constable.
Emily Spurrell and Serena Kennedy held a special ceremony in the new lobby of the building where they cut the ribbon to officially mark the opening of the £48m landmark headquarters.
Rose Hill will bring more than 1,100 officers and police staff under one roof and act as Merseyside Police’s flagship base on a key gateway into the city centre, overlooking Scotland Road and the Queensway tunnel, while also helping to regenerate the Everton area.
READ: Merseyside Police's new HQ - Rose Hill - opens for business today
Globe reporter, Rebecca McGrath, headed down to the opening to speak with the Police Commissioner and Chief Constable about the new facilities and take a tour around the new building.
Speaking of the opening, Chief Constable, Serena Kennedy, told the Globe: "It’s been an absolutely fantastic day.
"It’s a monumentus occasions for myself and the Crime Commissioner to cut the ribbon and finally take possession of the keys of this brilliant, modern purpose built building which will really meet the needs of a modern police force."
Emily Spurrell, Police Commissioner, added: "It’s really exciting to open the building today it’s been a long time coming.
"We’ve already had some initial feedback from some of the staff who are already working here saying it has made such a difference being able to communicate with other teams and it feels like a much better place to be working.
"I'm excited for all the other staff to move across now."
Emily continued: "It’s built in such an open plan way it allows teams to better engage with each other and creates that cross team working.
"Whereas in the old HQ you are sectioned off so this is really about trying to having that one team approach."
The old headquarters at Canning Place would have cost an additional £250,000 in running costs alone.
"We’re making a lot of savings which will hopefully allow us to put that money back into local policing and back into the frontline," Emily said.
The new building will be the base for Merseyside Police’s Chief Officer team, as well as the teams which assist with Corporate Support and Development, ICT, finance, the corporate assets team and the news and communications team.
Serena said the move with allow officers and staff to work more efficiently.
"It will absolutely make it easier for us to be more effective as a police force.
"We are moving teams from across Merseyside into this building and just by its very nature that colocation of people being together will enable us to deliver that quality of service to our communities."
With the new location being out of Liverpool City Centre, some people have expressed concerns of police visibility.
Serena said: "I'm absolutely confindent that moving the HQ to Rose Hill won’t affect the visibility or the quality of service that we deliver to the actual city centre.
"We have dedicated resources across the region and they will remain."
Emily added: "When I was elected one of my main priotioes was visible and accessible policing and that still stands as one of the areas I will be holding the chief to account on.
"We need a brilliant facility like this for the staff to do all that behind the scenes work but it is equally important that we get police out on the streets as well so that won’t change."
Speaking of investment in the wider city region, Emily said: "The initial strategy was done by my predecessor so part of that was focusing on the buildings that needed urgent investment like HQ but now we are looking at what we need to do elsewhere.
"There are a lot of investments in community police stations to make sure there is that presence in local communities. We are also just about to sign off a new one in Birkenhead.
"I am going to be looking at the whole of the strategy going forward to look at where other areas might need work like St Helens for example where we know there is a need, and we can look at how best we can do that within the budget that we’ve got."
What do you think of the new police headquarters? Leave your comments below.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here