Work begins on £250 million defence college
Work has begun on a £250 million redevelopment to deliver world class training facilities for key support personnel from each of the UK’s armed forces at a single location.
An artist’s impression of the new college (Copyright Skanska)
The Defence College of Logistics, Policing and Administration (DCLPA), at Worthy Down, Hants, will cover areas including catering, supply, transport and military human resources. It will enable the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to train personnel more efficiently and effectively so that they can provide the best possible support for military operations.
Demolition work is now underway to prepare the site, as the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) works with industry partner Skanska UK plc to deliver purpose built training facilities and living accommodation for up to 2,000 students and staff.
Air Vice-Marshal Elaine West, DIO Director of Programmes and Projects, said:
DIO’s priority is to build a better estate for our armed forces, delivering the right buildings in the right places to the standard that our personnel deserve and require. The new college at Worthy Down will ensure our servicemen and women have state of the art training facilities with living accommodation to match.
DIO expects construction to be completed by late 2018. Training will continue at the site throughout the build period.
The developed site will deliver high quality accommodation in a series of ‘villages’, one for junior ranks, one for officers and one for SNCOs. Trainees will also enjoy sports and recreation facilities, bars, officer and SNCO messes, as well as other supporting amenities. There will also be a Royal Logistics Corps (RLC) museum.
Commandant DCLPA Brig Allan McLeod commented:
The college new build at Worthy Down offers a fantastic opportunity to move out of aging infrastructure and into modern, fit for purpose facilities. These will allow us to exploit modern learning technologies and concepts, whilst enhancing even further the support to the front line that the training footprint provides. As well as being good news for the three Services, this is also really positive for trainees, for the Instructors and Permanent Staff, and for the local area.
DIO awarded the contract for construction work to Skanska UK plc in June. The project at Worthy Down represents the latest investment in training facilities for our troops after a £121 million contract for a new Defence College of Technical Training at Lyneham in Wiltshire was announced at the end of last year.
Skanska UK plc managing director Terry Elphick said:
We are delighted to have been selected to deliver this prestigious project and look forward to continuing our involvement with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, which spans over 15 years. At Skanska we believe in delivering high quality, environmentally efficient buildings and Worthy Down will be an exceptional example of how working in partnership can deliver world class facilities.