Hi, I’m Robert Smith and I work in the DIO Asset Strategy and Planning directorate, delivering acquisitions and disposal projects. Our primary role is to manage the disposal of land and buildings which have been declared surplus to defence requirements. This enables the proceeds from sales to be reinvested back into defence.
Since 2010, the government has prioritised the identification and release of surplus public land to accelerate new housing schemes and the MOD has played a significant role by delivering land for 40,000 homes during the last Parliament.
The move from Bordon to Lyneham
One of my current projects is the promotion and release of the Prince Philip Barracks in Bordon, Hampshire. In 2013 plans were approved to relocate defence technical training to Lyneham.
![A Lance Corporal in the REME (Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers) is pictured welding a vehicle component in Afghanistan. [MOD/Crown Copyright2012]](https://insideDIO.blog.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2015/08/Welding-in-Afghanistan-LCpl-in-REME-welding-vehicle-component-Sgt-Wes-Calder-RLC-Crown-Copyright.jpg)
The Defence School of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, and the HQ of 104 FS (Force Support) Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers will vacate the site by December this year and relocate to Lyneham. This has enabled the Acquisitions and Disposals (A&D) team to progress the town planning and release of Bordon as a new major development site.
Regeneration of the Barracks to a new major Housing Site
In April this year, DIO secured planning permission for the largest mixed use regeneration scheme in East Hampshire on the Bordon site. Over the next ten years the site will see the former barracks re-developed with 2,400 new homes, a new town centre with more than 50 new retail shops and stores, offices and leisure facilities. In addition a new bypass and secondary school are being built and funded by Hampshire County Council, the Homes & Communities Agency and the Department for Education.
The work will start in December when the Army vacate and will be undertaken by our development partners Taylor Wimpey and Dorchester Regeneration, which were appointed by DIO in January 2015. This project has been designed and implemented over the last three years and secured the planning permission and delivery confidence to enable DIO to attract both private and public investment into the scheme. My colleagues and I have worked closely in partnership with county, district and local councils to secure the political support to gain the planning permission and investment in the project.
In addition, significant input has been provided by the team to support colleagues in the DIO commercial team in the process of selecting the development partner.
Over the next six months, we’ll be closing down the site. It’s a complex process and needs to be completed alongside the physical moves to Lyneham. We are planning to make the handover to our development partners in December this year.
![Work at MOD Lyneham will complete next month. [MOD/Crown Copyright2015]](https://insideDIO.blog.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2015/08/20150623-Exterior-training-building-under-construction-1-smallHelen-Pickering-Crown-Copyright-MOD2015.jpg)
6 comments
Comment by Cam posted on
End of an era for me. Trained and did TA there on Prince Phillips barracks and Louisburg.
Comment by DIO Communications Team posted on
Thanks for reading, Cam!
Comment by Karen Chalmers posted on
Are you able to advise me where I can find details of any MOD property that is being disposed of and how it is being marketed? I seem to go around in small circles trying to obtain this information! As the DIO Communications Team I am hoping you can help, supplying me with the necessary link/guidance. I have tried the Epims site but it is next to useless when you use the search option. Thank you.
Comment by DIO Communications Team posted on
Hi Karen
Thanks for your question. Unfortunately there is no other disposals list. Sorry to not be more help!
Comment by K Dent posted on
It's all in the hands of Taylor Wimpey and something called the Dorchester Group, which seems to be owned by the Sultan of Brunei. Go figure.
Comment by Jo large posted on
Could you tell me what went wrong with your initial plan that residents were happy with please?
Hence being left with a huge residential area with nothing else to show apart from a cattle shed?