The project to demolish the former police station in Elm Street, Ipswich, has begun – but the bulldozers are not due to move in for another month.

Ipswich Star: Work starts on former Police station, IpswichWork starts on former Police station, Ipswich

Work to secure the site got underway early yesterday and contractors will spend the next few weeks physically separating the police station from the former Crown Court building which will remain the base for CSV Media.

The two buildings shared the same cells, and there are internal links between them.

The first task of the contractors will be to ensure that the two buildings are completely separate before demolition work starts.

This started with the erection of a safety fence around the site yesterday, effectively sealing it off.

The actual demolition of the 1960s-built police station is due to start on June 15 and the site should be cleared by the middle of September.

A final use for the site has not yet been decided, although it is expected that the vacant site could become a temporary car park while a redevelopment proposal for the whole area is drawn up.

A spokesman for the borough said demolition contractors Carters would be using high-technology equipment to ensure that the building could be brought down safely despite other properties – and busy roads – being nearby.

He said: “They will be using huge rubber mats to prevent the rubble from going on to the roads and to keep it away from other properties.

“We do not want to close Civic Drive or Elm Street while the work is being carried out.”

The police station opened in 1968 and was headquarters for the Ipswich Division of the Suffolk Constabulary from 1974.

Most of its staff moved out to the new joint offices at Landmark House on the north west edge of town in 2012, but it did not finally close until May last year when its remaining staff moved to the new town centre police station opened in Museum Street.