New state-of-the-art accommodation for Commando Training Centre

The Commandant of Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (CTCRM), Colonel Simon Chapman OBE has officially opened the new £10m bespoke state-of-the-art accommodation for personnel at the Royal Marines’ principal training centre in Devon.

The new CTCRM building, known as the Comacchio Building, after one of the Corps famous WW2 battle honours, will house Royal Marine recruits who have been injured whilst in training and contains 181 beds, as well as supporting facilities, including recreation areas and administrative offices. 

Inside the building are multifunction communal spaces, equipped with televisions, projectors/screens, and a kitchenette that can be used as a classroom with provision for IT when required or for individual learning. 
  
The accommodation block has 21 eight-bed rooms and one ten-bed unit plus three single rooms which can be used for support staff or individual troops. All sleeping areas include individual storage and has been designed so that they can be allocated to either male or female occupants. There are additional baggage rooms on each floor with lockable individual cages for larger items of kit.   
 
Each floor has a utility room containing a Belfast sink for cleaning larger items, washing machines and dryers. There are also dedicated drying rooms with extraction, low radiant heat and dehumidifiers to ensure items of kit can be quickly dried. A separate caged building for drying bigger items of equipment and an external boot wash has been constructed adjacent to the new block.
  
The building is designed to be easy to clean and maintain with vinyl floors and surfaces which are quick to wash. Durable finishes have also been fitted to the lift, baggage cages and handrails.   
   
Final fixings and equipment such as Wi-fi, curtains, blinds, notice boards, white boards and TVs were installed throughout the building during construction to avoid costly and disruptive fit out post-handover.

Simon Jones, Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) Project Manager, said: 
   
“We are pleased to have completed this bespoke building to meet the Royal Marines’ accommodation requirements along with our partner Galliford Try and our technical support providers AECOM. 
  
“This purpose-built facility will provide modern and essential accommodation to personnel and to allow them to continue training as they recover from injury and undergo rehabilitation prior to re-joining their normal unit. 
  
“This was a challenging project especially continuing safely throughout the current pandemic, but it demonstrated our expertise in delivering unique construction projects on time for the Armed Forces.”   
  
Simon Courtney, Managing Director for Galliford Try Building West Midlands & South West, said: 

“We are proud to have been given the opportunity to work with and deliver this unique scheme on site for DIO. There has been a high level of collaboration on the project throughout a challenging period, and we are delighted to now see the completed building ready for occupation by the Royal Marine recruits undertaking rehabilitation and recovery programmes.”
 
Representatives from the Royal Marines, Defence Infrastructure Organisation and contractors Galliford Try and AECOM attended an event at Lympstone on 4th November to mark the completion of this unique facility for the Royal Marines.