Genk (The Brussels Morning Newspaper): The Limburg provincial safety school PLOT is moving to a €12.5 million center on Zwartegoudlaan, accommodating 632 trainees and 60 staff, enhancing emergency services training under director Jacky Vastmans.
Next year, the Limburg provincial safety school PLOT will move its departments from its old building on Marcel Habetslaan to a new, modern training center on Zwartegoudlaan in the Genk-Noord industrial area to improve training for police, fire, and ambulance services. The new center will be built on the site of the former Zwartbert mine, with a focus on sustainability and eco-friendly design. A-tract Architecture is responsible for the planning, ensuring that the building meets current standards for training facilities.
What are the key features and benefits of the new PLOT training center in Genk?
The Limburg provincial safety school PLOT is relocating to a new training center on Zwartegoudlaan as part of a broader initiative to modernize training for emergency services in the region. This new facility will provide a better-equipped environment for advanced training methods, reflecting a commitment to enhancing the quality of education and preparedness for personnel involved in public safety.
The new building will have classrooms, a big meeting room, IT rooms, a restaurant, and offices for 632 future police officers, firefighters, and ambulance workers. It will also bring together 60 staff and 500 teachers from different safety schools on one floor. The building has modern features, like a special ventilation system that keeps classes running even during health crises, according to Jacky Vastmans, the director of PLOT. They also focus on drone training for emergency services, with drones launching from the roof, and they hope to have an autonomous drone for real operations in the future.
The new training center costs 12.5 million euros and will mainly focus on theoretical lessons, helping to shape the safety campus. Recently, the Rescue Center Vicky & Alexis opened, and there was also a practice hall opened in 2019. The Safety Campus is still in development, as the director hopes to add a shooting range for police training and improve the nearby area for fire training, including building a road to connect it to the Safety Site. There are plans to move the CARMA police zone to the Safety Site in the coming years.
