THE Army Basing Programme (ABP) has won a prestigious Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) South West Award for "excellence in decision making in planning".
The award was jointly submitted by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), global consultancy WYG and Wiltshire Council.
The ABP, a joint Army and DIO programme, is providing facilities to make way for army units who will be returning from Germany by 2020, saving £240m per year.
Across Salisbury Plain, the ABP will provide living and technical accommodation for about 4,000 service personnel and their families. Plans include more than 2,500 bed spaces for single soldiers, more than 1,300 new Service family homes and the construction, conversion or refurbishment of nearly 250 buildings, such as offices, garages, workshops and mess facilities.
The DIO and the Army continue to work closely with Wiltshire Council to develop and deliver the required infrastructure and to help ensure local services are in place as units move.
DIO commissioned WYG and GVA to produce a masterplan, working alongside Wiltshire Council and in full consultation with the local community to shape the project.
Stephen Harness, a senior town planner at DIO, said: “We are delighted to have won this award. The Army Basing Programme has been a huge success. There has been a shared determination amongst all parties to make the project happen in a very short timescale; and a commitment to work together in a collaborative way from the earliest stages of the project.”
Baroness Scott of Bybrook, OBE, Leader of Wiltshire Council said: “There has been a strong spirit of co-operation between ourselves, MOD and partners to deliver this huge and complex programme, and we are all extremely proud to have won the RTPI award. It recognises the combined effort of the team to clearly identify the development needed and encourage community engagement in the delivery of these plans as we prepare to welcome the additional Service personnel and their families to Wiltshire.”
The award entry was dedicated to the memory of WYG planning director David Alderson who led the project from its inception. David died last spring.
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