Police officers are finally expected to return to their two non-functional stations within weeks. Gungahlin likely to be back in action by the end of May and the City Police Station in late June.
Police, firefighters and ambulance officers were all pulled out of the shared Joint Emergency Services building in early March after hazardous materials, including dust containing lead and diesel particulates, were found in the roof cavity.
Independent consultants Robson Environmental were signed on to conduct quality assurance review of the investigation report and advise the ACT government on remediation.
Shortly after the closing of the station, an embarrassing incident occurred when the ACT executive gave the go-ahead to set up a "temporary front office" on the forecourt outside the police station using an incident response truck, some crime scene barriers and a portaloo.
But outraged police officers quickly complained to their association and jumped on social media to highlight a number of major security issues with the temporary set-up, the lack of proper amenity for the staff, and a strong odour of septic emanating from the location after a few days of hot weather.
Within a few days, the temporary front office idea was quietly abandoned and Gungahlin operational staff relocated elsewhere.
Giant vacuums have been removing the contamination in readiness for reopening.
Meanwhile, the heritage-listed City Police Station on London Circuit, with its Watch House in the basement, remains wrapped in protective building film after water seeping into the building in late March posed "health and environmental risks".
The building, built in 1966, had been repeatedly storm-damaged down the years and after one deluge too many, former ACT chief police officer Neil Gaughan ordered his troops out and relocated them to much newer temporary premises at AFP headquarters over the lake in Barton.
Front office and Watch House operations continued but the rest of the building was vacated.
The Justice and Community Safety directorate, which effectively owns the building, ordered an investigation which found waterproofing and internal gutters were "compromised" .
"Due diligence investigations confirmed that the roof is operational sound but the lower level external awning, associated waterproof membrane and internal gutters have failed, compromising the waterproof integrity of the lower level facade and allowing rain water to enter the lower levels of the building during rain events," the ACT government said in a statement.
Scaffolding went up around the building and a protective wrap was put in place "to allow safe access to undertake remediation for all contractors/consultants and to assist with ongoing safety for site users and visitors to the ... station".
The building's storm water systems have been redesigned and the water redirected and "due to the age of the building, asbestos-containing materials have been identified and removed".
Police officers stationed in the old London Circuit had confided that they were in no hurry to return due to the great facilities offered in Barton. Even former deputy commissioner Gaughan had joked AFP Barton was "like the Taj Mahal" compared with the pokey City station.
While all police staff are expected to return to the old building in late June, the hunt is now under way for a new city headquarters to replace Winchester Police Centre, which sits on a huge slab of prime land ripe for redevelopment in Belconnen.
A combined headquarters-city station is regarded as priority in the infrastructure master plan for police, which ACT Police Minister Mick Gentleman last month described as "well-advanced".
The complication to any relocation of the city station is the huge below-ground, multi-celled watch house, which will need to be expanded and future-proofed even further.
