PPP pilot project "Rescue Centre Soest"

Utilising a Public Private Partnership the district of Soest is combining the Rescue Control Centre, the district police headquarter and various facilities associated with the rescue services in an integrated Rescue Centre. Construction for the new Rescue Centre is scheduled to begin in July 2010; projected completion date is September 2011. 15,8 Million Euro are being invested for the Rescue Centre. Additional 2,36 Million Euro are put towards the new control centre technology.

The PPP project has been successfully launched by a consulting team under the direction of the real estate specialists of the makon GmbH & Co. KG and the lawyers from Rödl & Partner. As private investor, the Dortmund based company Derwald GmbH & Co. KG is financing, planning, constructing and operating this trend-setting project.

In one central building the new Rescue Centre brings together a variety of different users that previously have been located throughout the district of Soest. In the future rescue control centre, emergency rescue service, veterinary service, fire department control centre, crisis management team, the administration, training facilities for rescue and fire services and the district police headquarter that are then located under one roof will benefit from the close collaboration. This will facilitate an even more efficient cooperation during day-to-day operations and a further optimised emergency management in times of crisis. For this purpose the building will be equipped with state-of-the-art control centre technology for which the Vienna-based ACTES Consultants Technology & Engineering Services GmbH has completed the concept and the tender process as a member of the consulting team.

„The project’s character as a prototype is based on the special constellation of the integration of so many different but with overlapping functions entrusted utilisations as well as the resulting presentation in a PPP project, the tender documents and the economic efficiency calculations. By integrating the district police headquarter into the Rescue Centre, the synergies for the management of difficult situations can be further increased, which is in this configuration possibly a novelty and without equal.“, states Richard Weller, managing director of the makon GmbH & Co. KG and head of the project on the consulting team side for the PPP project.

For this purpose makon provides comprehensive consulting services in regard to the project management from a constructional-technical, operational and business perspective throughout the entire project process from the preliminary design through the tender process and the construction right up to the operation of the facility. As legal counsel for the district of Soest, Rödl & Partner has supervised the entire PPP process from the tender process to the signing of the contracts. During the process, special emphasis has been put on the sustainable concept of the project that is established within the PPP structure.

With 14 cities and communities and an area of 1.328 km² the district of Soest is the fourth largest in North Rhine-Westphalia. The concept of the spatial joining of rescue and police control centre is unparalleled in North Rhine-Westphalia and therefore has pilot project character. By implementing it as PPP project, an economic benefit of 7,9 percent has been proven.

(Picture source: DERWALD GmbH & Co. KG)