the first few series used dockhead fire station at 8 wolseley street, london se1, as the exterior for blackwall. the jacob street studio is opposite. it had a full scale reproduction of the mess, built by colin monk. the actual station mess was also used in the series, as were many other parts of the station and its actual firefighters. dockhead is still an operational fire station but the original station building was demolished and replaced in 2015.