So what’s been happening since our re-launch event at end of June? Well, as you will see from the photo, all the old ground has been fully turned over and new foundations laid.

The steel frame is being fixed into the foundations and the real scale/size of the buildings will start to emerge. This will take up most of the contractor’s time over the next couple of months.

We see the centre as being very much a community resource and it is important that local groups, organisations and businesses are involved from the outset. We have been talking to them about how they could use the centre and the possibility of sponsoring an aspect of it. So far, the response has been very positive and we look forward to really engaging with them over the coming months.

Representatives from our contractor, Kier Moss, have visited schools in the area to discuss possible careers in the construction industry. They have also invited some local schools to take part in a project actually at the SkillZONE site to decorate the hoarding that will be going up around the construction site.

Talking of schools, we will be visiting schools throughout the county after the holidays to inform Headteachers and other influential school staff more about SkillZONE and the benefits it can bring them. Articles will be appearing on school staff e-bulletins in the new school year to encourage them to find out about what SkillZONE can offer.

For more information, please visit http://skillzone.glosfire.gov.uk/

Gloucestershire Life Skills Centre, launching in 2012, is an interactive safety centre designed to educate the community about safety.

Dave Norman, the gregarious Project Manager for Gloucestershire Life Skills Centre is the perfect advertisement for partnership working and how best to work together to promote community safety and prevent child accidents.

Working for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, Dave has worked with the Safety Centre Alliance and the local PCT alongside many other supportive partners in developing the brand new centre.

Dave’s job is to steer and deliver the new safety centre in Gloucester and Making the Link spoke to him to ask him how the project came together and how the centre aims to build on the success of Gloucester’s strong community safety ethos. Read the full article here.

You can see a preview of the Gloucestershire Lifeskills Centre, scheduled for opening in 2012.

The government reviewed all Private Finance Initiative (PFI) bids as part of its Spending Review in October and after Gloucestershire learned that its waste PFI bid had fallen through there were doubts over the certainty of the fire cash.

However, the government has now confirmed that it will provide £40m to support the funding of the project.

Fire stations will be built at three new locations; with stations at Cheltenham Road East, Churchdown and Shepherd Road, Tuffley replacing the current Gloucester fire station at Eastern Avenue.

In Cheltenham, a new station will be built at Uckington while the current station in Keynsham Road will be demolished and rebuilt at that location.

Building the new stations will help Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service respond quicker to incidents.

There are currently areas of Cheltenham and Gloucester where the fire service can't get to life-threatening incidents within eight minutes. Life-threatening incidents are more often road traffic collisions than fires.

A new Community Life Skills Centre will be based at Shepherd Road and will be used by schoolchildren, groups, communities and organisations from across Gloucestershire.

The Community Life Skills Centre will provide a wide range of practical risk scenarios including road, rail, fire, electrical and water safety as well as other dangers in the home, including slips, trips, accidental poisoning and internet safety. It will also focus on teaching young people about social responsibility and respect.

Contracts will be signed with the contractor, Blue 3 over the next couple of weeks. Cheltenham-based Kier Moss Construction is part of the Blue 3 group.

The construction programme will start next month with the Shepherd Road site being the first to get underway. Staff from the current Cheltenham Fire Station on Keynsham Road will move to a temporary site at Kingsditch Road from mid-March to allow for demolition.

Jon Hall, Chief Fire Officer, said: 'With confirmation of Government's support for Gloucestershire, we are delighted to now be able to start this project.

'The county will be well served by the four new stations which will mean that we can get to those that need our help faster and provide more effective safety education.'

Cllr Will Windsor-Clive, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said: 'I appreciate that some people are questioning the investment into new fire stations during these difficult financial times, but the bottom line is that they will better help us serve and protect the people of Gloucestershire and that's our priority.

'I am glad the government has now confirmed the funding and I'm looking forward to seeing the new stations take shape.'