Work under way on new police HQ

Construction work on Gloucestershire Police's new headquarters is due to begin on Thursday.

The building, on Waterwells Business Park in Quedgeley, will be completed by the end of 2005.

A total of 400 people will be based at the site, which is needed because the force has outgrown its current base in Lansdown Road, Cheltenham.

A ceremony will be held at midday on Thursday to mark the start of work on the building.

At present, the force's departments are housed in a number of out-of-date premises scattered across four different locations, but once work is finished they will all move to the new site.

The project is funded by a Private Finance Initiative (PFI).