The MOD has celebrated a milepost for Project SLAM, its £1.1bn nationwide initiative to improve accommodation for single military personnel, as Vice Admiral Tim Laurence, the Chief Executive of Defence Estates, opened the 10,000th bedspace to be built under the project since it began in 2002.
The bedspace is one of 230 en-suite rooms recently built at the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone, Devon, for its Royal Marine permanent staff. During his visit, Vice Admiral Laurence met some of the occupants of the new accommodation, and inspected the four- and six-man dormitories in which they were previously accommodated.Marine Luke Street, 25, who joined the Royal Marines two years ago, said: 'We watched the build closely and couldn't wait for the blocks to be completed. When we finally got to move in, I couldn't believe how good the rooms and facilities were - it is just what we need.' His colleague, Corporal Scott Anger, 32, said: 'It is great having a bit of privacy and being able to relax in the comfort of your room after a hard day. We now have our own bathrooms as well as communal washing machines and dryers; this has had a major impact on our standard of living. But we are still basically living together as team, with a shared kitchen area and living room, so there is no danger of becoming a hermit.' Vice Admiral Laurence said: 'Project SLAM is one of a number of initiatives that are making a real difference to the living standards of our Service personnel throughout the country. We have said frequently that our Service personnel do exceptional jobs, and therefore deserve a decent standard of modern living accommodation. The new SLAM blocks at Lympstone provide yet more evidence that we are delivering on that understanding.' SLAM has to date delivered new accommodation blocks at some 33 sites around the UK, and won 13 trade awards (see attached brief and map). Since 2003 the MOD has delivered a total of 26,000 new or upgraded bedspaces through a combination of Project SLAM, and other parallel projects such as Project Neptune, Project Allenby-Connaught and the Colchester PFI contract. By 2013 it expects to have delivered a total of 60,000 new or upgraded single living bedspaces. |
