When the long-awaited Chester County Public Safety Training Center opened in September 2012, it represented a partnership among multiple agencies. The project had languished on the drawing board for decades and took an unprecedented collaboration to bring it to fruition.

On Tuesday, Dec. 1, representatives from many of the parties involved in the project gathered at the Chester County Commissioners meeting to celebrate the national recognition the project received: a 2015 design award from the Fire Industry Equipment Research Organization (FIERO), a nonprofit organization based in Charlotte, N.C., that aims to improve firefighter health and safety by providing educational conferences and networking opportunities.

FIERO, which honors five designs each year, recognized Manns Woodward Studios in association with Stewart Cooper Newell, architects for the Chester County Public Safety Training Center. Robert Tutterow, FIERO’s president, said that the competition drew applications from 30 states as well as several provinces in Canada.

The Tactical Village, the second phase of the county’s complex in South Coatesville and the focus of the award, opened in May. It encompasses four acres of the 95-acre tract on Modena Road and enables responders to hone rescue skills in realistic surroundings, such as trenches, sloping roadways, burning buildings or rail cars. The final phase will be an indoor shooting range.

Rob Manns, a vice president of Manns Woodward Studios, said his company specializes in designing buildings for emergency responders, such as police and fire stations, “I can say without a doubt, you guys have something really, really special here,” he told the commissioners.

Manns explained that projects involving multiple agencies often generate infighting. “The group we worked with [in Chester County] came to us and challenged us to come up with something as a group, not as an architect, but as a team,” he said.

John Haynes, the county’s deputy director of 9-1-1 operations, and Steve Fromnick, the county’s director of facilities and parks, both applauded the multi-department teamwork and behind-the-scenes players with expertise in areas ranging from finance to technology who made the project possible.

“The emergency responders had the vision of what they were looking for in the Public Safety Training Center, and facilities [department], of course, made that happen, and Manns Woodward took the design and made it a reality,” Haynes said.

Commissioners’ Chairman Terence Farrell joked that Commissioner Kathi Cozzone had volunteered to rappel down the side of one of the training buildings in the Tactical Village to celebrate the award.

“Bring it on,” Cozzone responded with a laugh.

In other business, the commissioners noted that the 2016 budget is scheduled for a vote of approval at their meeting on Thursday, Dec. 3. The $522,862,011 spending plan has no tax increase, and the millage rates will remain the same as they were in 2015, Chief Operating Officer Mark Rupsis said.