The City of Roanoke and Virginia811 (VA811) held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Emergency Communications Center that will house the city’s E-911 Center and the VA811 Call Center. Located at 1830 Blue Hills Circle (in the Roanoke Centre for Industry and Technology), the facility will create a culture that promotes innovative thinking, information sharing, and an increased awareness and interaction with our community.
“We are celebrating the beginning of a new era – not only in emergency communications, but in a special public/private partnership to provide those communications,” said Mayor Sherman Lea. “This new facility will build on the E-911 Center’s solid reputation, setting the stage for continued growth in technology and development of the Center for decades to come.”
The city’s E-911 Center receives more than 250,000 calls each year; Virginia 811 receives more than 1.25 million calls each year. To accommodate both agencies’ volume of calls, the new building will be divided into three areas – a call center for each agency and common spaces.
Features will include:
- Space dedicated for a robust training environment
- Room for expansion as needs change in the 911 services industry
- Space for a backup center for neighboring jurisdictions without hindering current operations
- Fully-redundant and resilient power, water, and HVAC
- Administrative office space, conference and small meeting rooms, and clerical/copy areas essential to the operation of each entity
The total budget for the project is $15.7 million, and this cost will be shared by the city and VA811. Construction is anticipated to require at least 12-months to complete.