The new facilities 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 as part of a complex manoeuvre environment. It will also provide an exercise base for troops training in the local area.
Working in partnership with Landmarc Support Services, and contractor SWH Group, the project also involved improving the surrounding infrastructure with tracks and hardstandings, which have been upgraded to support Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicles and the new AJAX fleet. Street lighting and a new public address system have also been provided with provision for military personnel to remotely plug in to a Field Electrical Power Supply (FEPS), a deployable generator system.
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.”