THE first phase of hundreds of new homes being built for service families in Tidworth has been completed.

A total of 322 homes are being delivered by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) working with contractor Hills, as part of the Army Basing Programme (ABP).

The £73m project at the Ashdown Estate is ahead of schedule with 35 properties now finished.

Neal Walters, DIO project manager, said: “I am impressed with the quality of the houses and speed of delivery.

"This project is a fantastic example of how we are working collaboratively with our contractor and investing in modern, first-class accommodation for our service personnel and their families.”

The houses aim to remove future reliance on rented properties.

Lieutenant Colonel Polly Parrott, the requirements manager for the ABP, added: “It’s incredibly important that we invest in our service personnel and their families.

"We want the best for our people and this investment at Tidworth will help to ensure that we are delivering first-class living facilities.”

The remaining 287 homes, still under construction, will be completed in clusters of about 40 houses over seven phases during 2017, the final homes will be ready for occupancy by service families in March 2018.

Ryan Harris, the Hills project director, said: “Hills is incredibly proud and honoured to be working side-by-side with DIO to build homes for the Service people who sacrifice themselves daily to defend our country.”

The new homes are in addition to the £1.1bn, announced last year, which is being invested by the MOD under the Project Allenby Connaught (PAC) contract, which will provide new technical and single living accommodation across Salisbury Plain.

In addition, 917 new homes are being built on MOD land at Bulford, Larkhill and Ludgershall to house service personnel and their families moving from Germany as part of the Army basing programme in 2019.