Allenby/Connaught Project Summary
Project Allenby/Connaught, the largest infrastructure Private Finance Initiative project ever let by the Ministry of Defence, has one simple mission – to make life better for some 18,700 soldiers (nearly 20% of the British Army) by providing modern, high quality, fully serviced, purpose-built living and working accommodation. Its origins lie in the Strategic Defence Review, through which more Army units would need to use and/or be accommodated in the garrisons adjacent to the Salisbury Plain Training Area and within Aldershot Garrison, as well as the poor standard of accommodation for soldiers. The contract was awarded to Aspire Defence Limited, a joint venture between Carillion and KBR, in April 2006.
In addition to a major £1.4Bn 10-year construction programme involving the new build or refurbishment of 550 buildings and the demolition of 447, the 35 year project encompasses a wide range of support services including catering, cleaning, transport, estate management, document production and handling, stores and waste disposal. The Project has a total through life value of some £8Bn and covers Army Garrisons across Salisbury Plain and at Aldershot.
In average, one new building is delivered to the Army each week. Buildings include offices, stores, training facilities, dining centres, sports and leisure facilities, but the core is 261 accommodation units and in all the project will deliver or maintain 11,500 single en-suite bedspaces for single soldiers.
This is not just a “quick fix”. Buildings will not be allowed to degenerate and they will be maintained throughout the life of the contract.
A key feature of the contract is the help desk physically located at each of the garrisons. The help desk provides a telephone, walk in and email point of contact for advice and assistance on all of the services that Aspire are responsible for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The helpdesks receive an average of 5,000 calls per month of which in excess of 97% are answered within 30 seconds.
- In the 3 years since the project began:over 3,300 bedspaces have been delivered
- 179 new buildings constructed and 196 demolitions completed with 97% re-use of material