Defence Minister visits military families benefitting from newly refurbished homes at Catterick
Over 80 service family homes are being refurbished for soldiers and their families in Catterick.
Minister for Defence People and Veterans Leo Docherty meets with service personnel at Catterick Garrison (MOD Crown Copyright)
The new homes have been completely refurbished by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and contractors Amey, thanks to £200 million of additional funding for military accommodation, which was announced in Catterick by the Chancellor and the Defence Secretary last July.
Leo Docherty, Minister for Defence People and Veterans, met local families who’ve recently moved into some of the refurbished properties.
The homes in Catterick are being completely refitted, with new kitchens, bathrooms, downstairs toilets, heating pipework and radiators, insulation, boilers, electrical wiring and fittings and flooring.
In addition, 7 playparks at Catterick are being completely modernised.
Around £122 million of the additional funding is being spent on refurbishing more than 3,000 service family homes throughout the UK. The remainder of the funding will be spent on improving single living accommodation. The programme has sustained over 5,000 jobs across the UK, many within small and medium-sized enterprises, such as CLC Group Ltd and subcontractors Axel and Unique Interiors, who are delivering the work at Catterick.
DIO has also recently awarded 5 accommodation contracts worth a total of £650 million as part of the Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) programme. The contracts are designed to deliver an enhanced service to families living in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) through effective and collaborative management.
Our future suppliers will be incentivised to ensure that the interests of the customer always come first when delivering enhanced services and the contracts enable the increased use of technology and modern forms of communication, providing occupants with enhanced accessibility to services.
Minister for Defence People and Veterans Leo Docherty said:
Our people are at the heart of what we do and I am proud to see first-hand how our investments are making a difference to the lives of our service personnel.
As the backbone of support to our Armed Forces, the £650 million investment reaffirms our commitment to service families by providing them with more efficient and flexible accommodation.
Peter Bush, DIO Regional Accommodation Lead, said:
It’s great to see families in Catterick benefit from the improvements to Service Family Accommodation.
The additional Government funding enables us to improve the quality of Armed Forces accommodation and really makes a difference to the lives of thousands of servicemen and women and their families.
We look forward to welcoming military families into their refurbished homes, both here at Catterick and throughout the UK.
Lieutenant Colonel Jim Turner, Catterick Garrison Commander said:
I really welcome this substantial investment into Armed Forces families’ accommodation, which is providing new heating and wiring and providing families in the Garrison with more modern, energy-efficient homes, helping to reduce their energy bills. We’re working closely with the families involved to minimise disruption as far as possible. This programme is going to make a big difference to our housing stock and ensure we’re providing service personnel and their families with better homes for the future.