The back entrance to Kelowna's new Police Services Building, Friday, March 3, 2017, set to open the end of this month.
(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)
March 03, 2017 - 1:09 PM
KELOWNA – Carpets are installed, walls are painted and the finish work has begun on Kelowna’s new $40 million police station.
Project manager Andrew Gibbs says the massive building will be finished by the end of this month, on time and on budget. Construction began in September 2015.
The new facility brings together three locations currently scattered across the city, making the task of protecting the city easier and more efficient.
Compared with the old, cramped main location on Doyle Avenue, which was built in the 1960s, the new Kelowna Police Services Building is state of the art, with high ceilings, wide hallways, more holding cells, offices and parking.
Traffic Services, Identification, police dogs and records storage will all be under one roof, according to RCMP spokesperson Kerry Solinski during a tour of the facility today, March 3, 2017.
There will also be a more streamlined intake for prisoners and a more secure prison block. With 29 cells instead of only 22, the Kelowna detachment will also be able to detain and hold more prisoners – up to three per cell.
The 95,000 square foot building also has a modern forensics laboratory and architects designed it so that it can be easily expanded in the future if needed.
The $48 million tab, which includes infrastructure improvements around the Clement Avenue and Richter Street area, will be paid by Kelowna property taxpayers over the next 30 years and was approved by an alternate approval process in March 2014.
City of Kelowna client services supervisor Anita Rideout in the main foyer of Kelowna's new Police Services Building, Friday, March 3, 2017.
(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)
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