Plans revealed for revamp of Kirkcaldy’s historic Art Deco fire station

Plans have been lodged with Fife Council for permission to carry out a raft of external improvements at the Dunnikier Road station.

The application, from Robertson FM, wants listed building consent for alterations including the installation of replacement windows, replacement railings and re-rending of the building which is Category B listed.

The station was opened in 1938 and is one of a limited number of Art Deco buildings still in existence.

A heritage report, submitted as part of the planning application, said: “It is a particularly good example of its type with limited numbers being still in existence and also further limited still in use as its original designed function. The older the building is, and the fewer the surviving examples of its kind, the more likely it is to have special interest.”

The report highlighted multiple areas of cracking in the harling which was in “particularly poor condition” around the roof and parapet areas.

It proposed checking the condition of the existing stonework, and any existing cement based renders, repairs and pointing to be carefully removed by hand. Leadwork is to be fully replaced, and handrails to the front of the building carefully removed and templated to replicate new ones in galvanised steel to match profile, form and thicknesses. The existing roof membrane is to be stripped off and new single ply membrane installed, and existing timbers condition checked.

The report added: “Works are appropriate and focused solely on the deteriorated and defective elements, aiding preservation of the asset and its significance. Any levels of crumbling and loose fabric present risks for the ongoing usage and function of the building. Water ingress, moisture trapping, and the freeze-thaw cycle could also compromise the building’s integrity. The resultant in the longer term would be a significant loss of heritage asset and loss of functional usage.”

The Dunnikier Road station was the Lang Toun’s first ‘proper’ fire station. The emergency service had been based in Cowan Street where access to roads was poor, and the main engine was originally horse-drawn.

It opened in 1938 at a cost of £15,000, - the same year M&S moved into the High Street, and the doors to Kirkcaldy Fife Rink, now Fife Ice Arena, opened at the top of Rosslyn Street.

While house fires were few and far between back then, the brigade did have a frontline role when it came to workplaces and municipal buildings, and the new headquarters were still on the planning table when two major fires broke out at the start of the year.

The boiler house and classrooms at the old Viewforth High School, Loughborough Road, went up in flames, and, one week later, an even more dramatic fire engulfed the former St Mary’s malt barns belonging to Messrs R. Hutchison & Co, of East Bridge Mills. The flames could be seen for miles around.

Councillors will consider the application in due course.