Major military accommodation upgrade marks project milestone
Thousands of military personnel have benefited from improved accommodation under a major upgrade project which is celebrating the completion of its 20,000th bed space at Defence Medical Services (DMS) Whittington.
The achievement was marked by the presentation of a commemorative plaque to DIO Director of Project and Programme Delivery Air Vice-Marshal Elaine West who attended a special ceremony at the Lichfield site.
The landmark bed space was provided through Project SLAM an extensive upgrade of bed spaces, common areas and ancillary facilities for Service personnel. The project, which is one of the largest of its type in theUK, is delivered by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) in partnership with Debut Services Limited, a consortium led by Lend Lease and Babcock Support Services.
Project SLAM has seen the provision of six new state-of-the-art Single Living Accommodation (SLA) blocks at DMS Whittington with 736 bed spaces – including the 20,000th - for Military medical staff and trainees.
Project SLAM supports the wider redevelopment of the Lichfield site as part of the Midlands Medical Accommodation (MMA) project, a programme of works to regenerate the former Whittington Barracks site to accommodate the UK headquarters for the DMS.
Air Vice-Marshal West said:
“I was delighted to be invited to celebrate this major milestone in SLAM delivery as we continue to deliver high quality accommodation for our Service Personnel, which in many cases is long overdue. That so many new SLAM bed spaces are now in existence with more in construction is tremendous, and nothing short of what our people deserve.”
Paul Francis SLAM Project Principal Manager said:
“DIO’s priority is to support the Armed Forces as they prepare for operations and one of the ways we can do this is through providing the best possible living accommodation.
“This is an important milestone in this extensive upgrade programme, the largest of its type in theUK, and demonstrates excellent partnership working between DIO and Debut Services Ltd.”
Neil Martin, Lend Lease's Managing Director of Project Management & Construction said:
“During the last ten years Project SLAM has dramatically raised the bar for living accommodation for Britain’s servicemen and women and we are delighted to have completed the 20,000th bed space.
“We look forward to continuing to work with the DIO in the years ahead to further improve the built environment in which our Armed Forces live and work.”
Ends
Further information:
Press enquiries to Tony Moran, Senior Communications Officer 0121 311 3879 or email tony.moran572@mod.uk
DIO website:www.gov.uk/dio
Twitter: @mod_dio
Read DIO’s blog: https://insidedio.blog.gov.uk/
Notes to Editors
1. The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) plays a vital role in supporting our Armed Forces by building, maintaining and servicing what the men and women who serve our country need to live, work, train and deploy on operations. We are working hard to become even better by becoming a world-class infrastructure delivery organisation over the next few years.
2. DIO is part of the Ministry of Defence (MOD). It is responsible for managing and maintaining land and properties, as well as providing related support services, to meet the current and future needs of the MOD and personnel at home and abroad, and to support current operations. Our work includes supporting operational units by providing and improving single living and service family accommodation; training areas and historic military sites.
3. DIO actively manages these to ensure the needs of Defence are met, value for money is achieved, and its heritage is protected, and to achieve its environmental goals.
4. Picture captions – please credit ‘Crown copyright/MOD 2013’:
Outside new accommodation facilities at Whittington Barracks, Lichfield, DIO Director of Project and Programme Delivery AVM Elaine West with, from left, Graham Jeffery, Debut Services Head of Defence Frameworks, Lt Col Andy Blocke, Commanding Officer Joint Support Unit, Defence Medical Services Training Group, DIO SLAM Project Principal Manager Paul Francis.
Graham Jeffery, Debut Services Head of Defence Frameworks presents a commemorative plaque marking the 20,000th SLAM bedspace to AVM Elaine West.
AVM Elaine West, second from right, with guests at the plaque presentation.
Tags:
