Yesterday, London City Council endorsed 3243 Manning Drive as the future site of the London Emergency Services Campus—a major milestone in a multi-year project that will strengthen London’s ability to deliver modern, coordinated emergency services and training.
The new campus is a joint project between the City of London, London Fire Department and London Police Service. It will support the operational and training needs of first responders, improve regional emergency preparedness and create new spaces for public safety education.
The site at 3243 Manning Drive was selected through a multi-phase evaluation process. This site was the only option that met the minimum 50-acre parcel size operational requirement. It is owned by the City of London and meets all necessary operational and provincial criteria.
With Council’s endorsement of the site location, City staff will now begin finalizing the land use designation for public use, advancing preliminary design work and completing servicing assessments.
The campus will be developed in multiple phases over several years, beginning with the most urgent training needs identified by the City of London, London Fire Department and London Police Service. The specific timing of each phase will depend on available funding, design considerations, and collaboration with other levels of government.
Proposed details and timing include:
Phase One (2025 to 2027)
- London Fire Department’s Main Dispatch 911 Centre
- Primary Integrated Emergency Operations Centre
- New Fire Station to enhance emergency response in the southeast industrial corridor
- Specialized areas for Provincial HAZMAT response unit
- Main Training Building (classrooms, drill hall)
- Purpose-built, state-of-the-art training infrastructure, including scenario simulation and indoor and outdoor firing ranges
- Clean-burn Training Tower
- K9 Building and Outdoor Area
Phase Two (2028 to 2031)
- Public Fire Safety Village offering community members of all ages, a hands-on, engaging experience to build awareness and preparedness skills
- Driving Track
- Fleet and Property Storage
- Fire Mechanical Bay
“This new campus will ensure London’s police officers, firefighters and emergency management teams receive modern training at a state-of-the-art facility, better equipping them to respond to new, complex challenges. It’s a demonstration of our commitment to emergency preparedness—protecting people, property and infrastructure,” said Mayor Josh Morgan. “We are building on the momentum created by historic investments into public safety and, with exciting potential to partner regionally, provincially and federally, the campus can help make London and our surrounding communities a safer place to live and work.”
“This campus addresses a critical infrastructure gap in firefighter training,” said Chief Lori Hamer, London Fire Department. “It ensures we can meet and maintain the skillsets for provincial certification requirements, support regional departments and provide safe, effective training environments for our crews.”
“For London Police Service, this is a transformative investment in readiness,” said Chief Thai Truong, London Police Service. “It means purpose-built training facilities, modern scenario simulations and the space we need to prepare our members for the complexities of today’s policing and the evolving demands of tomorrow.”
To learn more about the project, please visit getinvolved.london.ca/EmergencyCampus.