Architects invited to design new headquaters for MPS
Architects are being given the opportunity to design the Metropolitan Police Services (MPS) new headquarters under plans drawn up by the force with Mayor of London Boris Johnson and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Architects are being given the opportunity to design the Metropolitan Police Services (MPS) new headquarters under plans drawn up by the force with Mayor of London Boris Johnson and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
The MPS is to sell New Scotland Yard, its current headquarters, as part of major plans to update its underused estate. It will move to the Curtis Green building, the former Whitehall police station on Victoria Embankment, which is owned by the Mayors Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC).
It is to be redeveloped after laying empty for two years and will be called Scotland Yard. Featuring the famous revolving sign, it will be the MPSs new headquarters from 2015.
An MPS spokesperson said: The Curtis Green site will be an exemplar of modern-day policing facilities. The competition with RIBA will invite architects from around the world to produce a design which will help transform the building into a modern, well-equipped and efficient new headquarters fit for the 21st century.
The move is a part of a wider strategy that includes vacating around 300,000 square meters around one third of MOPACs estate over the next three years. It is hoped this will save £85 million a year on running costs by 2015/2016, compared to what was spent in 2009. A large part £60 million will be reinvested in the estate and infrastructure to support the front line and help keep officer numbers high.
The plan, announced by the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Stephen Greenhalgh and Deputy Commissioner Craig Mackey, will provide up to 950 modern cells and help reduce the time it takes to process people in custody. It also includes the sale of up to 200 buildings most of which have no public access.
Mr Greenhalgh said: Selling off underutilised and unoccupied buildings will cut the running costs of the Mets estate by £60 million, which will pay for 1,200 extra police officers across Londons boroughs over the next three years. This strategy should generate at least £300 million, which will be ploughed back into the remaining buildings so that a rundown, largely Victorian police estate is fit for the 21st century.