Amey, a critical supplier of infrastructure services to the public sector and UK Defence, has worked closely with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) to provide thousands of Armed Forces families with upgrades to their homes as part of a programme known as Project Speed.
In 2020, the Government announced that £122m of addition funding would be made available to improve Service family accommodation across the UK, with a focus on improving the lived experience of families, whilst maintaining a value for money approach. Some properties received a full upgrade, while others saw smaller, but still significant upgrades with a minimum investment of £25,000 per property.
With around £80m being made available for immediate spend, our teams quickly engaged with DIO and the MOD to ensure the funding was effectively managed, and to identify the properties that would benefit most from the upgrades, including properties that had been empty for several years.
In just five months, the first property was ready, and Cpl Angus of 1st Battalion the Mercian Regiment, his wife and three children were handed the keys to their newly refurbished home in Larkhill, Wiltshire – just in time for Christmas. Their home received a full upgrade, including a new roof, new windows and doors, external lights and some fencing. Internally, all walls and ceilings were re-plastered. A new kitchen, bathroom, downstairs toilet, heating pipework and radiators, boiler, electrical wiring and fittings and flooring were also installed, and new loft insulation and external wall insulation greatly increased thermal efficiency to save energy and reduce the family’s heating bills.
Part of the funding has also been invested in refurbishing 60 children’s play areas as well as creating several entirely new play parks. Several roads on Service Family Accommodation (SFA) estates were also resurfaced.
Air Cdre James Savage, DIO’s Head of Accommodation, said:
“It has been fantastic to see the success of Project Speed. Working closely with our industry partners Amey, my team were able to target homes which were most in need of improvement and the end result is a really significant increase in the overall standard of many homes. That will greatly improve the quality of life for many service families by making their homes more modern, comfortable, energy efficient and pleasant to live in, and by upgrading the community spaces around them.”
Tom Silvey, Amey’s Operations Director, RAMS, added:
“Since Project Speed’s inception, Amey and DIO have worked collaboratively with the MOD to ensure that the Government’s injection of funding was effectively managed and provided the best value for money, while supporting our supply chain partners to preserve the resilience of their own businesses during the Covid pandemic. We’re delighted that Service personnel and their families are benefiting from more modern, and energy efficient homes, along with reduced utility bills, and that children are enjoying the newly refurbished playparks across the estate.”