$7.2m Hawke's Bay police station unveiled

A brand new $7.2million police station has been unveiled in Hawke's Bay to replace the old Taradale station that closed in 2023.

The building project took just eight months because the 19 modules were constructed in Wellington then trucked to the site and pieced together.

A crowd of over a hundred police staff, local leaders and school kids gathered to see the new police station and watch Minister Mark Mitchell and Police Comissioner Richard Chambers cut the ribbon.

Inside the two storeyed building, Senior Sergeant Ross Smith shows RNZ around the new digs and explains that from Monday, 20 staff will be working in the building, although it has the capacity for 50 people.

"It's great, a huge improvement on what the old station used to be and all the staff moving in here are really happy to come and work in this station," he said.

The new station has been funded from the Government's Budget 2024 investment in frontline policing, costing $6 million to construct, with a total project cost of about $7.2 million. It came in under budget and was quicker than expected, which minister Mark Mitchell said is thanks to the simple design.

"A lot of these government buildings that have been delivered were way over engineered, so we've gone back to a pretty simple approach. You can see this is a beautiful modern working environment with ramps and easy access.

"Taradale Station we were talking about with some of the original officers today, it was an old house basically," Mitchell said.

Policeman Stefan Preddy oversaw the project, which includes about 40 solar panels - the largest roll-out yet of solar on a police owned building.

"They produce around just over 25 kilowatts of power which is enough to run the entire building through the daylight hours, all the temperature controls every component will have the electrical for it, so it'll be cost effective, we'll have paid off the solar within seven years and it'll make us I think around 76k within 15 years in profit," he said.

Preddy is thrilled with how the project went.

"The design came together really well, district engagement was great and the build time was fantastic, so I mean it's hard to fault it. The company have been awesome to deal with nothing's been an issue for them.

"I have places I would like to do it today if I could, if we could find the money there are places around the country we would like to replace," Preddy said.

Police Comissioner Richard Chambers is also keen to see more stations like it, and he told RNZ the cost efficiency and quick build time is a winner.

"If we can replicate what we've done here in other parts of country then everyone wins. The next two stations facing replacement is Greymouth and Whanganui," he said.

Although the station is not open to the public, it has been built with disaster preparedness in mind for Hawke's Bay Police.

"We've seen how frequent and unpredictable weather-related disasters are becoming and we're all aware that we live in an earthquake-prone country.

"Police must ensure we can provide timely and responsive policing at all times, and having this station gives us more assurance that we can continue our essential work for the Hawke's Bay community during and after natural disasters," Chambers said.

The occasion was also an opportunity to remember Senior Constable Len Snee, who was shot dead by a gunman during the Napier siege in 2009. His memorial stone sat outside the old Taradale station and has been carefully re-installed infront of the new building.

The minister, who'd worked and trained alongside Snee, said today also marks a new era.

"It is a new start. We had a beautiful ceremony this morning with a blessing for Len, which for me personally was very special as I was overseas when that tragedy unfolded," Mitchell said.

Earlier in the day, at a dawn ceremony the new building and the memorial stone for fallen officer Senior Constable Len Snee was blessed by Ngāti Mārau, Ngāti Rangitotohu and Ngāi Tahu of Ngāti Kahungunu, with Len's family attending.

"Throughout the demolition of the old station and construction of the new, our fallen colleague, his family and his memorial stone have been front of mind," said Eastern District Commander Superintendent Joel Lamb.

"We have ensured Len's stone was well looked-after and has been put in a place where police staff and the community can continue to remember and pay their respects to a great man and police officer who contributed so much to the Taradale community."

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