Fort Macleod police college designs take shape
A college campus will soon rise on southern Alberta farmland, but with sirens blaring as vehicles race around an outdoor track and shots are firing at an outdoor range, the Alberta Public Safety and Law Enforcement Training Centre will be an unusual addition to Fort Macleod.
Stantec Architecture Ltd. released designs Tuesday for the $122-million police training centre, to be built in the southeastern corner of the community.
The police college will stretch across 137.5 hectares and feature a series of buildings, outdoor training areas, a small forest and a pond.
“It’s a challenging project for us because we actually developed an entire campus,” said Enzo Vicenzino, senior principal at Stantec Architecture. “We’re just not designing classrooms and lecture halls and offices. This is all of that and then some.”
The main 160,000-square- foot building will include classroom and administration spaces, a five-storey residence and dining facilities for students.
A green space known as the quad and maintenance building will round out the more conventional-looking portion of the college.
But deeper into the campus, things start to look very different.
Long, winding roads lead to a secluded farmhouse or a cul-de-sac where recruits will practice how to approach homes in very different communities.
A scenarios building will provide a streetscape, alleyway and apartments, as well as mock holding cells and practice courtroom.
A driving track, with areas for driving at high and low speeds, loops around the rear while an outdoor gun range lets students aim at targets up to 300 metres away.
To help minimize the noise from speeding vehicles, sirens and gunshots, the designers have included a 2.5-metre berm around these outdoor training spaces, said Vicenzino.
A metal enclosure will help ensure bullets are contained in the shooting area.
So far, Fort Macleod residents seem pleased with the police college design.
“They’ve taken every precaution to ensure the utmost safety, with the indoor and outdoor ranges. I have full confidence in that,” said Fort Macleod Mayor Shawn Patience.
He has long been an advocate for the police college and said he was thrilled to finally see pictures of the main building and areal views of the campus.
“When I saw the pictures, it really brought it home to me. It put it into real life,” said Patience.
“It’s giving the community now something tangible to look at and is generating a lot of excitement.”
Construction has yet to begin, but the new police college is expected to open in 2014.