It was a share-house idea that was fine at the time, but 30 years on just looks awkward.
In 1994, the Gungahlin Joint Emergency Services Centre - an experiment to co-locate police, ambulance and firefighters - was first opened. There was no Bunnings, no residential towers, no tram, and Gungahlin was mostly a sea of grassland beyond the town centre.
It had around 5000 residents and the police operated from a shopfront staffed between 7am and 11pm each day.
Now it has well over 88,000 residents and is one of the fastest-growing suburban areas in Australia.
Yet aside from a few demountables, the JESC has the same footprint as before. And the latest $1.5 million spent by the ACT government has only improved the floor coverings and indoor amenity, not the size.
The shared facility was reopened to firefighters and ambulance officers on Friday. Next week, the police will move back into their little, security-sealed section, operating 24/7.
The 30-year-old building was declared hazardous to health and all personnel evacuated in late February. A Rural Fire Service tanker unit was the only one to stay, its personnel relocated to a demountable out in the back car park.
Contamination - specifically lead and particulates, although the exact type of nastiness hasn't been disclosed - was found in the ceiling cavities and ventilation systems and $500,000 in remediation work was required to rid the building of it.
Improvements aside, the federal police association - which represents the rank and file officers - says the JESC hasn't been fit for purpose for years and former chief police officer Neil Gaughan admitted as much when he left in March.
Functional police areas in the building have to be multi-purpose and as the association pointed out, if an all-staff meeting was ever called, the cops would have to convene in the car park.
After the February shutdown, there was an attempt to set up a temporary police station in a truck outside, complete with a screened-off portaloo.
However, that forecourt set-up proved such a blatant breach of operational security protocols that it was quietly packed up within days.
From next week, 60 police officers on rotational shifts will squeeze into Gungahlin station again, into office spaces around the size of one floor at City police station.
Promises have been made on new first responder infrastructure in the area but no timeline - aside from a vague "not-too-distant future" - is offered by the responsible ACT Minister, Mick Gentleman.
Like students leaving a share house at the end of semester, the State Emergency Services and Rural Fire Service are the first to move out. They will have a new home in Mitchell by the end of the year, in readiness for the next fire season.
The next to leave will be the firies and ambos - off to a dedicated new facility - which will give police the entire Anthony Rolfe Ave building in which to spread out, sometime in the "not-too-distant future".
Meanwhile, another of the troubled police premises - that of formerly water-logged City police station - will fully reopen for business by the end of the month.
Water has been flowing into the bowels of the heritage-listed London Circuit premises for years and a particular deluge earlier this year proved the final straw, with the CPO ordering all but essential personnel out of City Station and across to AFP headquarters in Barton. A $3.1 million refurbishment to the 58-year-old building has been underway for several months.
