Skanska awarded contract to deliver modern British Army vehicle storage facility

Above: Belinda Lunn, Senior Responsible Owner for the Vehicle Storage Support Programme and Steven Holbrook, Managing Director of Skanska, are pictured next to a sign which reads DE&S Ashchurch.
Courtesy DIO

Belinda Lunn, Senior Responsible Owner for the VSSP and Steven Holbrook, Managing Director of Skanska, celebrate the award of the contract. Copyright: Skanska UK.

Contracted via the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), Skanska together with the Technical Services Provider, MACE, will provide modern, sustainable and effective storage and maintenance solutions for the British Army’s land equipment fleet.

Belinda Lunn, Senior Responsible Owner for VSSP said: "We are very excited to be working with Skanska to deliver this project which will bring the Ashchurch site back up to full operating capability.

"Whilst the majority of the Army’s vehicle fleet is either on, or training for operations, a sizeable fleet is centrally stored to ensure that they are ready to deploy when required. VSSP will redevelop this centralised facility and deliver a modern, sustainable storage solution that ensures operational readiness of the Army’s vehicles by minimising the need for maintenance."

Warren Webster, DIO’s Programme Director for Army Major Projects and Programmes, said: "It’s great to see this project take a major step forward as we award the contract. This important work will future-proof the Army’s vehicle storage and maintenance facilities at Ashchurch for years to come and we look forward to continuing to work with our partners in the Army, Skanska and Mace to support this significant capability improvement."

Demolitions will begin this September enabling regeneration of the site by providing brand new infrastructure and updates to existing buildings. Once complete the Ashchurch site will provide Controlled Humidity Environment (CHE) storage for 4100 vehicles.

Katy Dowding, Executive Vice President, Skanska UK, said: "We’re delighted to continue supporting modernisation of the Defence estate following completion of Worthy Down in 2021, so we’re excited to help transform this site to protect and maintain this vital asset for the Army."

Steve Holbrook, Managing Director for Skanska UK’s construction arm, added: "We’re also proud to continue to help drive greener solutions as part of this complex project and plan to make significant use of modern methods of construction to drive down carbon emissions."

The project will employ up to 400 people, a number of whom are expected to be employed from the Tewkesbury area. There will be a range of employment opportunities available including demolition, groundworks, structural steelwork and scaffolding. In addition, the project will also support 10 apprenticeships.

All construction activity is expected to complete by 2027.