Metropolitan Police Special Training Centre - Gravesend

United Kingdom

The Metropolitan Police Specialist Training Centre (MPSTC) in Gravesend, Kent, stands as one of the largest specialist training centres for the Metropolitan Police. Following the collapse of Carillion in 2018, Service Support Gravesend Limited (SSGL) appointed EQUANS as the replacement contractor. This transition was marked by effective mobilisation, strong leadership, and exemplary contract management, which now underpin the project's success.

The primary purpose of the MPSTC is to ensure the provision of safe streets in London by deploying highly trained and qualified police officers. These officers receive their essential qualifications through the training delivered at this facility. The training programmes encompass Public Order and Specialist Firearms officers from the Metropolitan Police, and from time to time, other forces from the UK, amounting to 100,000 student training days annually.

Opened in 2003, this unique purpose-built centre spans 9,250 square metres and includes an accommodation block with 300 beds, a classroom block, replicas of urban streets and houses, a tube station, a train, a stadium, indoor and outdoor shooting ranges, and live vehicle stop and search training facilities. The centre is approaching its hand back in 2028.

The excellent working partnership between the Authority, Project Co, and FM Co, underpinned by a joint strategic understanding of the project's role and purpose, has made this contract a PFI exemplar. The partnership's robustness was recently tested by a geological ground movement catastrophe, which demonstrated an incredible response to an extraordinary challenge.