Amey and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) have completed the first phase of a project to refurbish a Single Living Accommodation (SLA) block at Wellington Barracks, to improve the lived experience of around 196 Serving personnel currently stationed at the site.
The project forms part of the MOD’s drive to improve the quality of military accommodation, following the Chancellor’s announcement in 2020 that almost £200m of funding would be allocated to upgrade around 3,000 Service family homes and several Single Living Accommodation blocks across the UK’s Defence estate.
Working alongside our local supply chain partner, BJF Group, the project will see the block decorated upwards from the 2nd to the 7th floor. New bathrooms and kitchen areas are being installed, along with new floors, fire doors, lift upgrades, window enhancements and brand-new bedroom furniture.
With comfort in mind, all electrics, and hot and cold-water systems are being upgraded and the change from old lighting to a new LED system will improve energy efficiency and provide cost savings in the building.
Ade Afuwape, Amey’s Project Manager, is overseeing the programme and said: “The logistics of the Phase 1 refurbishment required careful planning as half of the block remained occupied while we worked on the other half. Now phase 2 has commenced, all troops were moved again so we could repeat the works on the second half of the block. It proved to be a real logistical challenge to agree and achieve ‘troop decamp’ at the change over from phase 1 to phase 2 but with close collaboration between all parties, the troops were successfully moved with minimal disruption to their operations.”
As with many projects up and down the country, the impact of COVID has been significant, particularly around staffing and delivery. There have been slight delays in the supply of furniture, fire doors and other supplies but the project’s robust risk management process has enabled our team to prepare ahead and manage the risks effectively.
Aligning with Amey’s commitment to provide opportunities for apprentices across the business, three apprentices from BJF Group are working alongside the team, allowing them to gain valuable experience on a large and important scheme. Each apprentice is closely supervised during their time on site and are flourishing under the guidance of the more experienced members of the team.
Craig Lilley, DIO’s Project Manager added: “This project will undoubtably improve the lived experience for soldiers. Challenges such as COVID are encountered almost daily but are being managed well. The project needs a high level of stakeholder engagement throughout to ensure all milestones are met and the planning of the Platinum Jubilee is not affected during the coming months. It’s a credit to Amey to continually hold the contractor to the agreed delivery stages and now, with a fair wind, we should complete under the predicted completion date. Congratulations to all involved.”