Hundreds of new military family homes have been completed at a Gloucestershire barracks, as the MOD drives forward its plans to transform Armed Forces housing.
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) purchased the 281 new-build homes, through its Capital Purchase Programme, on existing developments near Imjin Barracks, Innsworth, which is the home of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps. DIO worked with major house builders with 232 homes built by Taylor Wimpey, 24 from Bloor Homes and 25 from Bovis Homes.
The new homes will be occupied by Service personnel and families from Signals Regiments relocating to Imjin Barracks under the Defence Estate Optimisation Army Programme. In addition to the homes, new and improved infrastructure is being delivered on the barracks to prepare for their arrival, including Single Living Accommodation blocks, new garages and workshops, additional administration buildings and improved gym facilities.
Work started on the homes at Imjin in 2023 with construction taking place in phases and families moving in as their homes became ready. Those who were able to move in earliest have been enjoying their homes for nearly two years.
The houses include sustainability measures such as photovoltaic panels to generate green energy, low carbon heating systems, smart heating controls and electric vehicle charging points. Families have already reported a significant reduction in their energy bills due to these modern features.
Alongside the new build homes, some existing Defence homes at Imjin Barracks have also benefitted from investment in recent years including new boilers and heating systems, external wall insulations and replacing doors and windows.
As well as providing new homes at Imjin Barracks, work has recently started on the first forces family homes to be built by the MOD in nearly a decade at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
The completion of the homes at Imjin comes as the MOD continues to move forward on its promise to fix forces family housing across the UK through the Defence Housing Strategy. Last year 1,250 homes were fully upgraded with more underway this year.
Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard MP said:
Our Armed Forces families deserve homes they can be proud of and that's exactly what we are delivering at Imjin Barracks. These homes are a clear sign that we are keeping our promise to fix military housing once and for all.
Backed by our £9.2 billion Defence Housing Strategy, we're not just building new homes, we're upgrading thousands more across the country to improve the quality of life for service families.
David Brewer, Chief Operating Officer, DIO, said:
These fantastic new homes for families at Imjin Barracks are part of the Defence Estate Optimisation Army Programme to build additional capacity at the site. Building and buying brand new homes is just one of the ways we are improving housing for Armed Forces families, alongside our Defence Housing Strategy which will see thousands of existing properties upgraded across the UK.
Belinda Lunn, DEO Army Programme Director said:
As the first large-scale net zero carbon housing development procured for the Ministry of Defence, this investment by the Defence Estate Optimisation Army Programme demonstrates our ongoing commitment to deliver an affordable and sustainable estate. This project means hundreds more Service families will benefit from modern, high-quality homes close to Imjin Barracks.
Improvements to military family housing are backed by an investment of £9.2 billion over ten years delivered through the Defence Housing Strategy, which sets out the most significant transformation of UK military housing in more than 50 years. The Strategy launched a generational renewal of service family housing, including upgrading or replacing nine in ten existing homes in the next decade, as well as turbocharging the development of up to 100,000 homes on surplus Defence land.
