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Upgrades have been completed on 44 homes out of 138 planned under the current phase and a further phase, which will ultimately take the number refurbished up to 170, is due to start in early 2009.
Over the next ten years the MOD expects to spend £8.4 billion on all living accommodation over the next decade, including £3.1 billion on new-build and upgraded accommodation.
During the visit Admiral Laurence met with families who have recently moved into completed houses to discuss the upgrade programme and gauge the impact of the improvements.
The Admiral's visit follows publication of the Defence Estate Development Plan, which officially confirmed that Blandford Camp would be retained for the Armed Forces, after the Headquarters Defence College of Communications and Information Systems and the Royal School of Signals are relocated to St Athan in Wales.
Admiral Laurence said:
"This is one of a number of sites where we are targeting homes that we have identified as below the standard that our people deserve. We have confirmed the future of Blandford Camp as an MOD base is secure, and I am delighted that we are now bringing more of the family accommodation there up to the top standard."
Mrs Hayley Pitcairn has recently moved into one of the upgraded quarters on South Crescent with her husband, Corporal Cameron Pitcairn, who is completing a technical course before being posted to Blandford as an instructor. She said:
"These are a vast, vast improvement on before, and I am happy that we will be staying in this quarter for two years. It is like the BBC's Homes under the Hammer because we lived in one of the old quarters before refurbishment, so I've seen before and after. This is definitely a worthwhile project, and it was nice to have Admiral Laurence visit us, and see for himself what is going on."
Admiral Laurence also viewed the camp's accommodation types and standards for its single personnel and chatted with them about their experiences.
He then went to see the effects of work undertaken by MOD conservation staff beside the Camp at Monkton Down, an example of lowland calcareous grassland that offers a habitat for various scarce and endangered species, such as bastard toadflax and dwarf sedge, chalkhill blue and adonis blue butterflies, and declining farmland species such as corn bunting, yellow hammers, skylark and grey partridge. |
