Colchester gets keys to 'new' Garrison

Construction of the first phase of buildings has been completed and the final touches are being applied as all the furniture, both office and home, is moved into place. Apart from the new Community Centre, these will be the first 78 of 134 buildings to be occupied as part of the new Colchester Garrison Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

Three main units will be taking up occupation in the new accommodation today: 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, 16 Close Support Medical Regiment and 216 Signal Squadron. All three units are part of 16 Air Assault Brigade and have significant elements serving in Afghanistan. The rest of the garrison will be occupied over the following four weeks.

The centrepiece of the new barracks is the new junior ranks single living accommodation (JRSLA), where each soldier has their own room with en-suite bathroom. This makes a considerable change from the existing accommodation in Colchester, much of which dates back to the 1930s and 40s, and in some cases to Victorian times.

Yesterday, Monday, 25 September 2006, saw the ceremonial handing over of keys from Stewart Ness, Chief Executive Officer of RMPA Services Plc, the consortium behind the new barracks, to the Garrison. On receiving the keys Colonel Tony Phillips, Deputy Commander Garrison, said:

"This marks a new step forward for Army accommodation, moving from what in many cases are old and rundown barracks to a new, purpose-built living space. The troops are really looking forward to moving to their new barracks. We expect a lot of our troops in the modern world and it is only right that we provide them with the most up-to-date facilities."

The new Colchester Garrison is being built in two phases and construction of Phase 1 was completed ten weeks ahead of schedule. It includes every type of building needed to accommodate the Army: office space, armouries, stores, parade squares, conference rooms, a new Courts Martial Centre, multi-storey car parks for personal vehicles, and garaging for military vehicles plus more than a dozen outdoor sports pitches.

Phase 2 will also provide more living, technical and office accommodation plus a new sports centre and a medical reception facility. It is due to be completed in 2008. Stewart Ness, CEO at RMPA, said:

"The completion of Phase 1 construction followed by the fitting out of this phase of the new garrison fulfils a key milestone for the consortium. RMPA is delighted to be able to make available the new facilities 10 weeks early for the benefit of garrison personnel.

"We look forward to seeing the facilities being used and to be able to provide a high standard of service delivery to the soldiers to match the high standard of facilities provided."

Under Phase 1 around 1,500 of the 3,500 soldiers and civilian staff employed at Colchester Garrison will move into their new accommodation. Merville Barracks will operate under a different structure from the previous arrangement in Colchester.

Formerly each regiment or unit had its own self-contained barracks on its own site. In the new garrison, all units will be housed within one barracks on one large site, Merville Barracks, split across two camps, Pegasus and Roman.

Colchester Garrison PFI is one of the largest Defence accommodation PFIs to date. The contract for its delivery was the first of its type for a Garrison project, and is setting standards for future MOD projects. The total cost of the project is £2.2 billion, over a 35 year contract, of which £560m is building costs.

As a result of building the new Garrison, the MOD has been able to sell 84 hectares of surplus land to land developer Taylor Woodrow. It will be used to build a mixture of developments including affordable and social housing, plus areas for leisure and light industrial use. The finance raised from this will help to offset the costs of the PFI.

Gunner Daniel Keen, of 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, 18, who moved into his new room today, said:

"It feels a bit unreal. The accommodation is outstanding, it's just the worry of looking after it now. I thought the rooms would be smaller but it's perfect."

Useful facts and figures about the construction of the new Merville Barracks:

• Overall site = 185 hectares - equivalent to 259 football pitches
• Roofing = 120,000 m2 – equivalent to 17 football pitches
• Bricks = 2,700,000 – equivalent to 45,000 m2
• Windows = 4,500
• Fencing = 6,000 m
• Total road length = 11 km
• Concrete = 90,000 m3
• New Trees = 1200+
• Woodland planting = 30,000 m2
• At its peak there were 1700 people working on site on any one day, with 60 sub-contractors. The whole of Phase 1 has taken
  4.3million man hours to build.
• Since construction of Phase 1 was completed six weeks ago, 35,000 items of furniture have gone into the completed buildings.