HMP Grampian

The Scottish Prison Service is investing in a new £90 million prison in north east Scotland. HMP Grampian is being built on the site of the existing HMP Peterhead which is located 32 miles north of Aberdeen.

The successful contractor Skanska was appointed last year and began work in February 2012. Work is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2013.

Tom Fox from the Scottish Prison Service said:

“The project is to build a 550 place community facing prison. This is the first custom built community facing  prison we’re going to have in Scotland, I think I’m right in saying it’s the first one in the UK that has been built to accommodate all of the different categories of prisoners in the local community.

The prison will unique in its ability to house male adults, convicted prisoners, remand prisoners, male young offenders both convicted and remand as well as female prisoners.

Tom Fox said:

“The prison population will almost entirely be drawn from the north east of Scotland and the prison will meet all of the custodial needs of the area. That necessity requires a fairly sophisticated way of separating the different categories of prisoners and providing them with separate regime facilities within one perimeter.

“Work is well underway, some of the steel super structure is already in place and it is on schedule for completion next year. When the construction work is completed the prison population from the existing prison, HMP Peterhead, plus the prison population from HMP Aberdeen will be decanted into the new establishment and both the existing prison and HMP Aberdeen will be demolished.”

HMP Grampian is being funded by the Scottish Government.

The custom built prison will provide education facilities, training facilities and a range of facilities to engage with prisoners across a spectrum of needs. There will be a wide range of opportunities for staff to engage with prisoners and aid their rehabilitation into society.

Tom Fox explains the custom design of the prison to enable a range of prisoners to be sent there.

“I’m aware of prisons taking different types of prisoners, but this one’s built specifically to accommodate the wide range of prisoners coming from the community and that’s quite unique.

“For the Scottish prison service, it means we’ve got a new custom built facility to meet the custodial needs of the people of north east Scotland. It means that it’s a facility that will maximise our chances of engaging positively with offenders in fit for purpose, modern accommodation.”

Resource and Environmental Consultants Limited

Formed in 1995, Resource and Environmental Consultants Limited (REC) are an Environmental, Geotechnical, Health, Safety and Energy consultancy. The renewable energy division, REC Renewable Energy Ltd was established in January 2012, as the latest service offering within REC Ltd.

HMP Grampian is REC Renewable Energy Ltd’s first project. They have completed the first phase of installing vertical collector pipe and the header array as part of the groundworks. REC expect to return to the site in November once the main buildings are constructed to install the plant and control systems ensuring each building has its own dedicated heat source.

Jim Lofthouse from REC Ltd said: “We are a holistic provider of renewable energy solutions; ground source being one of those solutions we’ve supplied at the HMP Grampian site.”

“While REC are one of many professional contractors providing ground source energy solutions, we are one of the only specialists to provide a fully integrated Building Information Modelling (BIM) facility. We currently take BIM to level 2 and by utilising this we are able to pass significant cost savings on to our clients”.