Integrus Architecture PS, of Spokane, has started design work on a new aircraft rescue and firefighting facility that's scheduled to be built next year at Spokane International Airport west of Spokane.

Airport spokesman Todd Woodard says the building has a total budget of $8.5 million and will be designed to meet Federal Aviation Administration requirements, with four equipment bays in a single-story design. The exact structure size will be determined in the design phase, he says.

The structure is slated to be built north of the main runway and southwest of the main terminal and will replace an aircraft rescue and firefighting facility located northeast of the main terminal. The new structure's location will allow for faster response to the current runways and effective response to a third runway planned for the airport, Woodard says.

Woodard adds that the current 10,500-square-foot facility built in 1978 has reached the end of its useful life and requires more maintenance work each year. That structure also doesn't meet current FAA airport fire station design requirements. After a new rescue and fire facility is built, the old structure is expected to be reused for some other airport function, Woodard says.

Woodard says 90 percent of the new building's construction costs will be paid for with FAA Federal Airport Improvement Program funds, and 10 percent will come from the airport's general funds. He says the airport plans to advertise for a contractor by next spring, with the construction set to start in June. The facility is expected to be completed by the summer of 2014.

Preliminary plans also call for construction of a new access road that would be almost three-fourths of a mile in length, extending from the new building site to inbound Airport Drive, Woodard says. The road work would be part of the building's construction contract.