Defence Online

Salisbury Plain WWII training camp redeveloped

Homeland November 2, 2016

The MOD is investing in training facilities to help meet future military need. As part of this investment, an old WWII training camp based on Salisbury Plain has been redeveloped to deliver a versatile and modern facility for troops training in the South West.

The £2.4M investment from the DIO has seen 12 buildings demolished and replaced with 11 new structures at New Zealand Farm Camp on Salisbury Plain Training Area in Wiltshire.

The new facilities, known as ‘stone tents’, will provide a modern, multi-purpose training camp that can be used as a Forward Operating Base or to replicate a terrorist camp, refugee camp and a Non-Governmental Organisation Base, or even as part of a complex manoeuvre environment. It will also provide an exercise base for troops training in the local area.

Surrounding infrastructure, such as tracks and hardstandings, has also been upgraded in order to support Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicles and the new AJAX fleet, together with street lighting and a new public address system. A new Field Electrical Power Supply (FEPS) and deployable generator will give troops remote plug in access.

The development has been constructed by contractor SWH, in partnership with Landmarc Support Services.

Brigadier Neil Dalton, Head of DIO’s Service Delivery Training team, said: “The DIO’s role is to help keep our country safe by defining, buying, managing and assuring the infrastructure our Armed Forces rely on to do their jobs effectively. This facility helps keeps our country safe by providing the best possible facilities for training in various scenarios.

“The improvement works at New Zealand Farm Camp on Salisbury Plain represent a major investment and the biggest single investment in a training camp on Salisbury Plain since the development of Copehill Down village in the late 1980s.

“The work has delivered a versatile and modern site to both enhance the overall facilities across Salisbury Plain and also support the complexity of training requirements for the contemporary operating environment. The diverse training features that have been incorporated into the site will benefit our user community by enabling a broad variety of challenging exercise scenarios to be undertaken.”

Major General Richard Stanford, General Officer Commanding, Regional Command said: “The new facility here at New Zealand Farm Camp is outstanding; it offers our troops a modern and versatile training environment close to one of our major Garrisons on Salisbury Plain.

“The investment in New Zealand Farm Camp and other training areas allows the Army to prepare in a realistic and challenging environment. Facilities such as this are critical to enabling success on operations.”

Talking about the project Clive Paxman, project manager at Landmarc Support Services, said: “As DIO’s strategic partner, Landmarc worked closely with End Users and other stakeholders from the outset to understand the specific training requirements for this facility. This collaboration, coupled with experience of managing similar projects across the training estate, enabled us to embed a sustainable approach during the design phase.

“The buildings have been developed so that they provide a realistic, challenging physical training environment through strategically arranged tunnels and overhead gantries to simulate different risks and threats, doors have been fitted with ironmongery that will sustain clearance procedures, windows are designed to minimise breakages and the shutters have catches allowing them to be locked in both open and closed positions. All of this will also greatly reduce ongoing maintenance costs, allowing money to be invested elsewhere.”

Photo caption – L to R, Brigadier Neil Dalton and Major General Richard Stanford at the opening of NZ Farm Camp.

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DIO Landmarc New Zealand Farm Camp Salisbury Plain SWH

Post written by: Vicky Maggiani

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