'Expensive white elephant' unused fire control centre to become specialist school for 120 children
A specialist school for 120 children is set to open at a fire control centre which was built at a cost of £14m but never used.
Wakefield Council said it had secured £1.6m of investment for the redevelopment of the Wakefield Regional Fire Control Centre building.
The facility at Paragon Business Village was designed to handle 999 calls as part of a centralisation of emergency services.
It has been vacant since the project was scrapped in 2010 when it ran over budget and was hit by IT problems.
The council said the premises would now be converted to provide secondary school places for young people with social, emotional and mental health needs.
The local authority described the move as “part of a wider journey to meet the needs of children and young people across the district.”
A statement said: “This site presented a great opportunity. It is in a great location, offering good accessibility for a relatively quick redevelopment programme.”
Work is expected to start at the site this year, with the school’s opening planned for 2027.
Vicky Schofield, the council’s corporate director for children and young people, said: “This investment of capital funds is an important step forward to improving specialist provision for families in our district.
“It means better outcomes for our families, with access to high-quality education and reduced reliance on high-cost out-of-area placements.
“By spending now, we will create more places in our district, mitigate budget pressures and improve the financial sustainability of the local education system.”
The Department of Education (DfE) is providing £1.6m of funding for the project, which covers the purchase of the site.
It was originally designed to replace local fire control centres across Yorkshire and was built to high specifications, with coffee machines costing £6,000 and £4,000 sofas.
Constructed as part of a national scheme, the project was scrapped in 2010 at a cost of £469m.
In 2012, a property company was hired by the government to find a business for the building at a rent of £450,000 a year.
Eight years later, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) described the centre as “a bad decision and a waste of money” after it emerged the building was still empty.
David Williams, FBU secretary for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “It was an expensive white elephant at the time and it has been an expense to the taxpayer in the years since.
“We should not have to continue to foot the bill for an empty shell of a building.”
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson previously said: “The Wakefield Regional Fire Control Centre is currently vacant and the department is exploring options for its future use.
“We are determined to keep the costs associated with these buildings to a minimum.”