Johnson Roberts Associates worked with the Town of Essex, Massachusetts to develop a space needs program to accommodate the town’s police and fire department. This process included considering possible renovations to the existing station or new construction of either combined or separate facilities. Following an extensive evaluation of multiple sites and construction strategies, the Town selected their preferred option.
The preferred option creates a combined police and fire Public Safety Complex. The design utilizes a steeply sloping town-owned parcel and an adjacent parcel. The planned new construction creates a 23,000-SF, two-story complex with the fire department on the upper-grade level and the police department on a lower-grade level. The complex design fits into its residential surrounding by breaking the massing down into a series of residentially scaled components.
Johnson Roberts conducted several public forums to engage the larger community in the design process. Town meeting voted to fund the final design. Construction for the project began in December 2019 and the Grand Opening ceremony took place on September 18, 2021.
