Celebrating 75 Years of Police Headquarters

This year marks the 75^th anniversary of the establishment of police headquarters in Bridgend. To mark the occasion, we’ve created this short video and developed an online exhibition which highlight the history of the site and how it has evolved through the decades to help us keep south Wales safe.

Featuring photographs, news articles and film footage from our archives, this exhibition pieces together the history of the site, from its days as a munitions factory office block, to its re-purposing and functioning as a police HQ from 1947 onwards.

Whilst the exhibition aims to recognise this aspect of our heritage, we also hope it will engage communities and raise awareness of the ways in which we have developed our estate, to progress and improve the services we provide with our colleagues in Gwent, and the Fire and Rescue and Ambulance Services.

Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan had this to say:

“Throughout history, a number of developments have taken place at our Force Headquarters - all of which have allowed us to develop and improve our services to communities.

I’m delighted to see how this exhibition shares the history of our headquarters. Not only that, but I’m also proud to see how it showcases some of the work that has gone on behind the scenes throughout time, and how it highlights what we have achieved more recently such as the construction of our new Police Learning Centre: a state of the art complex where future generations of officers and staff will learn and develop in order help to keep south Wales safe.”

South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, Alun Michael added:

“The South Wales Police Headquarters building has a long and remarkable history, as indeed has the whole site around it. It’s extremely pleasing to see how that journey is now being shared with our communities.  

It is quite astonishing to see how this estate has evolved over time, constantly being adapted to meet the changing needs of the police service in south Wales. It has become more cost effective and efficient over time and opportunities have been taken to bring us closer to our colleagues in the other emergency services as well as to the public.” 

The exhibition is now live and will close on 22^nd January.