The HERO Review – conducted by King’s College, London for Morgan Sindall Group plc – proposes not only more effective Ministry of Defence (MoD) partnering with local authorities and the private sector but also new approaches to home ownership and the separation of MoD operational and support responsibilities.
In the wake of the Government’s decision to commit the Military Covenant to law, Morgan Sindall Group plc (the construction and regeneration group) has now published the findings of this independent review of the UK’s defence estate.
The Harnessing Efficiencies, Rethinking Outcomes (HERO) Review proposes how the defence estate’s assets could be used to reduce future dependency on the taxpayer and be better managed to reduce costs and more effectively serve military personnel and their families.
The HERO Review considers the future of the defence estate, identifies fresh approaches to the financing, use and disposal of the MoD’s significant assets and examines the future of housing for service personnel.
In a response to the HERO Review’s findings, Morgan Sindall Group plc has called for:
- a clear separation by the MoD of its core military operations and associated support services, with management of the latter either being entrusted to the UK’s private sector or forming a new fourth ‘Support4Services’ branch of the MoD
- greater co-operation between business and the MoD to develop the education and training of service personnel for civilian life on discharge from the Armed Forces (in turn establishing a ‘new compact’ bringing together service people, Government, the business community and academia to address current and future resource and skill shortages)
- that the MoD promote home ownership among service personnel by relinquishing provision of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) in favour of a military property bond and universal military accommodation allowance or radically alter the way in which family accommodation is financed, provided and managed to reflect market conditions
- a rethink of the military’s approach to providing Single Living Accommodation (SLA) in order to harness private sector construction expertise (which could deliver a 20% cost saving)
Encouraging fresh thinking and wider debate
Speaking at the launch of the HERO Review’s findings, Paul Whitmore – the commercial director of Morgan Sindall Group plc – explained: “In commissioning the HERO Review, we wanted to encourage fresh thinking, a wider debate and a collaborative approach to defining the future of the UK’s defence estate.”
He continued: “For example, our experience of providing communal living accommodation suggests that savings of up to 20% of the current cost of providing MoD single living accommodation could be obtained through innovation in techniques and materials.”
Whitmore continued: “Now, with the transformation of the Defence Estate into the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, it’s not difficult to envisage a future where the organisation could either become a wholly private enterprise or one run on private sector principles.”
In conclusion, he suggested: “The construction industry and the Armed Services are close cousins – dealing as both do with extraordinary physical challenges, in all terrain and weather, using small highly-skilled teams and with safety as a paramount concern. We hope that the HERO Review and our response to it will provide a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate around the future of the defence estate.”
Perspectives from the Centre for Defence Studies
The launch of the HERO Review findings included presentations by Whitmore and Dr John Gearson, director of the Centre for Defence Studies at King’s College, London. Dr Gearson discussed:
- closer integration of defence and civilian communities with joint investment in and shared benefit from new accommodation and associated facilities
- using the post-Germany defence footprint with its annual GB pound 750 million expenditure to secure inward investment in partnership with local authorities
- replacing PFI with new financing arrangements such as Local Asset Backed Vehicles, Local Improvement Finance Trusts and land swap schemes to generate new value from defence estate assets while disposing of surplus ones
- the desirability of an industry consultation on the Single Living Accommodation Modernisation (SLAM) Project (especially with the return of 20,000 British Army personnel from Germany in mind) to generate efficiencies through innovation in planning, design and building techniques and materials
- a new and more imaginative approach to preparing service people for a career through to re-settlement in partnership with the private sector, and taking greater account of aspirations for home ownership and stability for service people’s families
Dr Gearson commented: “The HERO Review – and Morgan Sindall Group plc’s response to it – are intended to be important steps forward in developing fresh approaches to how the defence estate is managed in an increasingly challenging economic climate.”
He went on to explain: “The effective operation and management of the huge assets held within the defence estate directly impacts on the retention, well-being and future prospects of many service personnel. As the activities of the defence estate become more commercially aware and flexible, there will be associated positive benefits for those in our Armed Forces now and in the future.”
View the HERO Review online at http://construction.morgansindall.com/assets/m/s/ms3370_hero_kcl-final.pdf and Morgan Sindall Group plc’s response at http://construction.morgansindall.com/assets/m/s/ms3371_hero_ms_response-_f.pdf (dedicated links for both of these documents are provided at the foot of the page)
About Morgan Sindall Group plc
Morgan Sindall Group plc is a leading UK construction and regeneration group operating through five divisions of construction and infrastructure, affordable housing, fit out, urban regeneration and investments.
In the defence field, Morgan Sindall delivers a wide range of facilities to the defence sector. Projects include capital works, repair, maintenance and refurbishment.
The overriding goal is to set new standards in the design and construction of environments for service personnel.
The company understands the demands of working in high security and live environments. At the Faslane naval base in Glasgow, for example, it has built the largest single accommodation facility in Britain. The organisation has also designed and built a 44,000-tonne floating jetty for the new Astute-class nuclear powered submarine.
Recent defence projects include the delivery of a new GB pound 20 million fighter jet training facility at RAF Valley in Anglesey, the construction of a three-storey office complex for the Ministry of Defence in Bristol, work on the relocation of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery from St John’s Wood to Woolwich and ongoing capital works, repair, maintenance and refurbishments for the Defence Estates under Regional Prime Frameworks.
About the Centre for Defence Studies, King’s College, London
The Centre for Defence Studies (CDS) engages in research at the highest level on British, European and international defence and security issues.
The CDS was established at King’s College, London in 1990 with a grant from the UK’s Ministry of Defence, but is now fully independent.
CDS operates in three distinct but overlapping research areas: academic, public policy and corporate consultancy. It offers external contracted research services. Indeed, researchers within the Centre for Defence Studies have been involved in successful consultancy with Government and private industry of over 20 years.
They also have access to the extensive resources of the War Studies Group (of which they are a part). This provides over 100 researchers in all aspects of defence and security studies, military history, operational expertise and in all the dimensions of what is now known as ‘human security.’
CDS has highly developed linkages to Government and non-Government institutions, policy networks and the major professional associations both at home and abroad.