WORCESTER, MA — Worcester officials marked the start of work on a new South Division Fire Station with a groundbreaking on Monday.
The Worcester Fire Department and city officials held the groundbreaking at 135 Southbridge St., near Southbridge and Madison streets, for a six-bay fire station expected to take 18 to 24 months to build. The project is a long-planned replacement for one of the city’s older public safety buildings.
The new station will replace the current South Division station, which was built in 1959. The city said the project is part of a broader effort to improve municipal buildings and maintain safety for city employees and residents.
The new South Division Fire Station will be located at 25 Madison St., the former Registry of Motor Vehicles ancillary parking located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Southbridge Street and Madison Street. The proposed building site also includes parcels on Beacon Street and a portion of 165 Southbridge St., according to the City of Worcester bid posting.
The new building is planned as a two-story, mostly brick facility of about 30,000 square feet with six overhead doors, decontamination and laundry facilities, an apparatus floor, bunk space, a training tower, conference rooms, kitchen and dining areas, office support space, and other station functions, according to the city bid documents.
Perkins&Will, the architecture firm listed in the city’s bid documents, describes the South Division Firehouse as a 30,000-square-foot, net-zero-ready facility designed to support rapid emergency response and firefighter health. The firm said the six apparatus bays are intended to reduce vehicle shuffling and allow simultaneous deployment, according to its project description.
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