A new public safety training center is off the ground in Mobile.

On Tuesday, the Mobile City Council authorized a nearly $1 million contract with Goodwyn Mills Cawood, an architecture firm, for design of a public safety training complex that will combine the Mobile Police Department and the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department’s training programs.

“Ultimately, [the contract] gives us the opportunity to be prepared to just move forward and put our men and women who work in public safety in a facility they can be proud of,” Lawrence Battiste, the city’s director of public safety, said after the meeting.

The contract authorizes the architecture firm to begin designing plans that meet the needs of the city of Mobile, Battiste said. In the meantime, the city will begin to look for a location for the facility, which has yet to be determined. The facility is to be 21,126 square feet and sit on eight to ten acres of land.

The facility is expected to cost around $13.5 million to construct, but where that money will come from is unclear. Battiste says, as progress continues on the facility, the administration will continue to look for a source of funding for the complex.