Historical Background
The War Office first purchased land on Salisbury Plain in 1897 primarily for Army manoeuvres. The main acquisition programme was completed in 1902. Work started on building Tidworth Garrison later that year with full occupation of the eight barrack areas being achieved by 1910. The other major Salisbury Plain garrisons followed over the next 30 years or so.
Aldershot Garrison, often described as the "Home of the British Army" is one of the larger garrisons occupied by the Services with about 4700 troops. It is host to several formation headquarters, including HQ 4 Division, and a number of logistic and mechanised infantry units. It also serves as the Army’s Centre of Sporting Excellence. The garrison is bordered by the towns of Aldershot and Farnborough, the Army Training Estate (ATE), and the Blackwater Valley Road. The site has traditionally divided into North Camp, north of the Basingstoke Canal, and South Camp. The garrison is around 500 hectares in size and relatively open, with numerous sports pitches and other green areas. The area includes a number of individual barracks and other facilities and enclaves of Family Quarters (FQs), which are leased from Annington Homes. The area represents 28% of the land in Rushmoor Borough Council.
The building stock ranged from listed buildings to Poulson "system buildings", and included three new barracks completed since 1995, the most recent being New Mons.
Aldershot Garrison is unusual in that it owns a considerable proportion of its utilities and roads. These include an electrical network, tied into the partially operated Aldershot Military Power Station (AMPS), a District Heating System (DHS) covering South Camp, a water catchment area with treatment facilities, and its own sewage network and treatment plant.
MoD Policy on Private Finance Initiative
In order to impliment a number of changes to the organisation and location of many elements of the Army across Salisbury Plain and Aldershot, a PFI had to be examined as a potential procurement strategy. As a result of this requirement Land Command established two projects, ALLENBY for Salisbury Plain and CONNAUGHT for Aldershot, to undertake a Scoping Study for each area to identify the potential for a Public Private Partnership (PPP) solution.
Scoping Study Phase
The ALLENBY and CONNAUGHT Scoping Studies were started in late summer 1999. They concluded in February and April 2000 respectively. Both Studies found that there was sufficient potential for PPP to justify undertaking a more detailed Feasibility Study. TU consultation was undertaken on the outcome of the Scoping Study and the Terms of Reference (ToRs) for the Feasibility Study(s) and no comments were received.
Project Management
During the early stages of the feasibility work Land Command recognised the significant potential synergies between ALLENBY and CONNAUGHT and so in July 2000 it was decided to combine the management of the two Projects. In addition to these synergies, discussions with the approving authorities indicated that the two Projects would not be considered in isolation. Work on the procurement options also highlighted the potential for combining the two Projects into a single procurement activity. Hence it was decided to combine the reporting of the two Projects into a single coherent document, albeit with the location specific issues fully documented; subsequently a decision was taken to formally merge the two teams.
Invitation To Negotiate
An Invitation to Negotiate was issued to three Bidders on 31 July 2002, Abraxis; Aspire Defence Limited and Defence Accommodation Services Limited (DASL), however, DASL subsequently withdrew from the competition in October 2002.
On 11 December 2002 both consortia submitted their bids which were then subjected to rigorous evaluation and comparison to the Departments own Public Sector Comparator (PSC). As a result of this demanding process Aspire Defence Limited were selected as the Provisional Preferred Bidder for Allenby/Connaught.
Main Gate Approval
In August 2004 the Investment Approvals Board and MoD Ministers considered the Main Gate Business Case submitted for the Project and approved, subject to final contract negotiations, Project Allenby/Connaught proceeding to contract with Aspire Defence Limited. On the basis of this approval the status of Aspire Defence Limited moved from Provisional Preferred Bidder to that of Preferred Bidder.
Contract Award
Once Aspire Defence Limited had been appointed as the Preferred Bidder both parties undertook some very detailed planning. This is a highly complex PFI contract and care had to be taken to ensure that the contractual details for the largest estates PFI of this type for the Army were absolutely right for a contract lasting 35 years. This was time very well spent as a smooth transition, a key project objective, was achieved and one that had to be delivered. The need for the garrisons to remain operationally effective at all times is absolutely essential. This is particularly relevant at the present time given the Army's current operational commitments around the world.