Ground-breaking for new Single Living Accommodation at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
A major construction project is underway to deliver modern, sustainable Single Living Accommodation (SLA) for Army personnel at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS).
Ground has broken on the second of two SLA blocks under construction at RMAS, where all officers in the British Army are trained to take on the responsibility of leading their soldiers.
The project is being delivered by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), sub-contracting to Reds10, under the Army’s SLA Programme, which is providing significant investment in modular accommodation across the Army estate. It is also part of a new wave of Carbon Efficient SLA construction, with major improvements to standards, and an advance in how the DIO delivers buildings to enhance the lived experience of our Armed Forces.
Once completed, the first SLA for Senior Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs – Senior Block) will contain 53 bedspaces, while the second will house 45 rooms for Other Ranks (Junior Block). Both SLAs are being built using Modular Methods of Construction (MMC) designed to achieve the very highest of building energy efficiencies. These include the use of photovoltaic panels, air source heat pumps for heating and hot water, and a SMART building management system, that learns how the building is used and ensures it runs as efficiently as possible, enhancing its green credentials.
The Junior Block is currently entering its onsite foundation and service phase and will be handed over to its new occupants in Spring 2025.
‘The ground-breaking for the Single Living Accommodation at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst means we will now begin the work of building a quality infrastructure that will add to the pace and volume of Defence infrastructure delivery. In building the bedspaces for our Senior NCOs and Junior Ranks, we will partner with our suppliers to deliver infrastructure that meets the needs of Defence, now and in the future. We will be providing the expert infrastructure advice to our customers, enabling them to build this into their planning for the most effective and sustainable infrastructure delivery.’
Neil Hague, MPP Senior Project Manager, DIO: ‘These new blocks are an excellent example of the benefits being delivered under the Army’s Single Living Accommodation Programme, which is enabling us to build at speed, provide a better standard of accommodation for our people and improve the resilience of our estate. I continue to be impressed by the quality, comfort and spaciousness of these modular buildings, which have been designed using soldier feedback and include sustainable features that will enable us to drive down utility bills and support our carbon reduction goals.’
Brigadier Pete Quaite OBE, Head of Infrastructure Plans, Army Basing & Infrastructure: ‘The ground-breaking at Sandhurst was a great opportunity to officially mark our work on the Single Living Accommodation there alongside the Army and DIO. These state-of-the-art buildings draw on the successes of our work together at Imjin Barracks, where the Single Living Accommodation is one of the most advanced buildings in Europe for SMART building control. This was a real collaborative effort and we have been able to feed lessons learned, gathered through the construction process there, alongside data from SMART technology and real lived experiences from armed forces personnel using the building, straight back into our work at Sandhurst.’
The Army SLA Programme is investing £1.4Bn and delivering 8,500 SLA bedspaces over 10 years to enhance living conditions for serving personnel. In addition to this, 8,000 SLA bedspaces are being delivered by the Defence Estate Optimisation (DEO) Army Programme, through new build SLA blocks and refurbishing works, bringing the combined total of SLA bedspaces being delivered over 10 years to 16,500.
