Tollcross Fire Station

Tollcross Fire Station is a purpose-built fire station in a Postmodern style with abstracted elements of monumental classicism and traditional Scottish architecture, designed by the Department of Architectural Services at Lothian Regional Council. The main elevation includes a metal panel relief sculpture by David Roxburgh. The building opened in 1986.

The station is L-shaped on plan and fronts directly onto the street, with a large training yard and curved drill tower to the side and rear. The main elevations are characterised by alternating volumes of projecting and recessed stonework and glazing. The structure is steel framed with polished ashlar sandstone walls, contrasted by glazed elements that have a strong grid pattern and are typically highlighted in lime green. The building is located on a restricted corner site at the junction between West Tollcross and Ponton Street, in Edinburgh city centre. It remains in use as an operational fire station (2023).

The building comprises three sections: a corner office block and two secondary wings that extend east on West Tollcross and north on Ponton Street. The corner block has a rectangular-plan tower with a chamfered edge to the corner and a large projecting drum (circular tower) to the right, both of which have deep recessed windows in dark frames. Between these projections is a recessed pedestrian entrance with a glazed atrium above. A stone balconette with horizontal metal railings and a deep eaves course wrap around the block at first floor level. There is a three-panel relief sculpture mounted above the ground floor, depicting firemen manning the hoses on either side of a building in flames.

The remaining main (south) elevation to West Tollcross is set back, with four roller doors for the fire tenders separated by stone columns. The upper floor has two box-like projections flanking a recessed central section, which has two re-entrant projections of gridded glazing and a balconette. The remaining side (west) elevation to Ponton Street is largely blind on the ground floor with a stepped window and door to the north end and a narrow band of projecting windows to the south. The upper floor has a rounded projection and two box projections, each with glazed projections and balconettes similar to those on the West Tollcross elevation. The rear elevations are plain with buff brick walls and simple brick detailing. The gabled ends of each wing have a central recessed bay with a gridded glazed projection and balconette. There is a large glass and steel canopy over the tender openings, at the rear of the east wing.

The majority of the roof is pitched with a corrugated-metal covering. The corner tower and projecting elements to the main elevations are flat-roofed. There is a barrel-vaulted roof projection roughly positioned at the centre of each wing. These projections, and the surrounding roof, were originally glazed but have since been covered over. There are a number of decorative windows with red brick detailing, including oculi (round windows) to the circular tower and the east gable, and pairs of quarter-circle windows to the projecting blocks.

The interior was seen in 2022. The layout comprises the station offices, watch room and kitchen in the corner block. The east wing contains the appliance bays, with the dormitories, mess and recreation rooms above. The north wing contains wash and changing facilities, and storage rooms on the ground floor, whilst the upper floor has been substantially altered and refurbished in recent years to form a new Control Room. The internal treatment is functional throughout, generally comprising hard surfaces with timber joinery. There have been some areas of refurbishment, largely to the north wing, but much of the early fixtures, fittings and finishes remain.

The training yard is enclosed to the east and north by brick boundary walls, which have curved corners and a droved ashlar sandstone finish to West Tollcross. Vehicular access is via large black metal gates to the rear on Dunbar Street, which have a grid pattern and are hung on red brick piers, with one arm cantilevered. A five-storey drill (or practice) tower is incorporated into the curvature of the boundary wall to the northeast corner. It is of brick construction with a curved elevation to the rear and an external metal ladder tower. It has balconies, and window and door openings at each level, and a mock-maisonette on the upper floor with a mono-pitched slate roof.

The Central Fire Station at Tollcross (now known as Tollcross Fire Station) was built as the central control unit for the Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service and was designed to accommodate four tenders. The building opened on 18 April 1986 costing around £2.2 million. It was designed by the Department of Architectural Services at Lothian Regional Council. Up until 1956 the site had housed a single-storey Italianate-style tram depot, after which it was used as a bus garage (Ordnance Survey Map, 1961). This was demolished in 1967 and the land subsequently used for parking.

The Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service (the South Eastern Area Fire Brigade prior to 1975) stemmed from the Edinburgh Municipal Fire Brigade that was founded in 1824 under James Braidwood. In 2013 it was amalgamated with the seven other regional fire and rescue services to form the single Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The new building at Tollcross replaced the previous Central Fire Station in Lauriston Place, which was built to the designs of Robert Morham in 1898 (listed category A, LB30123). This earlier building remained as the Service's headquarters until 2013, and also housed The Museum of Fire until the building was sold in 2016.

The relief sculpture mounted on the front of Tollcross Fire Station was the result of a design competition arranged between the architects and the head of the Sculpture Department of Edinburgh College of Art. The theme was 'Firemen at Work' and the design brief stated that it was to be less than six feet by six feet in scale, and not exceed a budget of £2000. The winning design was by a third-year art student, David Roxburgh, and the three-panel image has been in place since the building was constructed (Canmore, 156866).

Photographic evidence shows that the overall footprint and external appearance of Tollcross Fire Station has remained largely unchanged since it was first built (Prospect, 1986). One of the most notable changes has been the covering over of previously glazed sections of the roof. These were located on the first floor of each wing, over a general recreation area and originally featured a glazed roof and a barrel vaulted rooflight. The barrel vaulted rooflights remain but are in the process of being removed (2023). The east wing is still in recreational use, but the glazed roofs have all since been covered over.

In 2015–16 the eight Control Rooms across Scotland were rationalised and condensed down to three Regional Controls. The existing Control at Tollcross, located on the upper floor of the north wing of the building, was selected as a suitable location for one of these Regional Controls, and underwent alterations and refurbishment works around this time (Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, 2014 and 2016). Plans from before and after the changes (2013 and 2017) show that some internal partitions were removed to create a large open plan Control Room with a glazed training area (provided by Scottish Fire and Rescue Service). The former meeting room was subdivided into male and female locker rooms and the former fitness room, with sauna, showers and changing facilities, was altered to create a dining room, kitchenette and quiet/meeting rooms.