The Old Fire Station - Another Broken Promise

More than two years ago, when our leading District Councillors were secretly making their bid to the Labour government for eco-town status, they were also getting set to publicise a shopping list of promised benefits we would reap when the millions set out in the bid came rolling in.  Among the sums included in the bid, one was earmarked for restoration of the Old Fire Station, with conversion to an eco-station so that we ignorant townsfolk could learn what it means to “go green.” Fast forward a year. The Council buys the site for half a million quid, again promising to restore it and use the rest of the site for the sort of cutting edge eco-houses the rest of the country would envy.  They even published a eco-house drawing- bearing a remarkable resemblance to small cowshed.  Still, one could be consoled by the expectation that the fire station would soon be restored.

No such luck. Perhaps I have misunderstood the meaning of ‘restore.’ I thought it meant returning it to its known original appearance. The experts at the Council and their architects clearly had some other meaning in mind when they decided to substiture glass doors for the accordion pleated red ones of that horribly disfiguring modern projection, inserted to accommodate larger fire appliances.

The Old Fire Station remains one of the few really interesting buildings in Bordon, in a highly prominent position.  It deserves better than the thoughtless treatment it seems to have been subjected to so far.  Not having seen the glass doors application (who would?) in the fine print of the official planning notices, I was equally horrified to read in last week’s Herald that the Council actually prefers the red doored monstrosity, seemingly in ignorance of the building’s original appearance.  Well, here’s a photo of it, as built for the Army.  As a historic buildings architect, I think Bordon deserves to have its heritage acknowledged, not its subsequent disfigurement perpetuated.  Oh, and the BAAG website banner has featured a photo of the original building ever since it was set up.

www.baaga.co.uk