Once complete by the end of 2020, the 34,000m² centre will co-locate police helicopter service, emergency services, bomb squad and crisis and hostage negotiations. The project includes an administrative building and training facilities with swimming pool, shooting lanes and for combat training in urban areas, helicopter base and parking. All of which will be heated by geothermal energy.

It is only the second time that such deep drilling has been undertaken in Norway and in order to reach those depths a hammer drilling method that with compressed air is being used that is both cheaper and faster than rotary drilling.

According to Bjørn Mosskull, project manager for Rock Energy, drilling at depths down to 1,000-1,500m requires far stronger drill bits than those needed in ordinary well projects. "In green wells, you can change the crown quite often during drilling, but if you are going to pull up 1,000m of drill string, replace something completely at the bottom and put it back together before the drilling can resume, then there is a very large cost to handle. That is why the strong drill bit is something of a secret here, in addition to having designed the well in a way that makes it possible to bring up the water without losing the heat on the way up."

The secret he talks about is access to the only rig of its type that is available in Norway, which has been developed by Båsum Boring used in combination with Rock Energy's drilling hammer and well design.