Project MoDEL

The project was formed on 29 October 2002 to act on the recommendations of the 1998 Strategic Defence Review,{{cite web |url=http://www.contracts.mod.uk/dc/public/newsroom/pdf/project_model.pdf |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20050513214904/http://www.contracts.mod.uk/dc/public/newsroom/pdf/project_model.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 May 2005 |title=Project MoDEL - Major Investment Programme For London's Defence Estate |last=Smith |first=Sue |date=15 January 2003 |work=Defence Contracts Bulletin |publisher=Ministry of Defence |accessdate=14 June 2011}} specifically to reduce the number of defence sites in the Greater London area. RAF Northolt, the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich and RAF Uxbridge were initially selected as core sites, for which British and American units would move into. The Royal Air Force would have left RAF Uxbridge, allowing the US Air Force and Navy to move from RAF Daws Hill, RAF Blenheim Crescent and RAF West Ruislip.{{cite news |title=Wind of change at RAF Northolt |url=http://www.hillingdontimes.co.uk/archive/2002/11/06/Local+London+Archive/6286708.Wind_of_change_at_RAF_Northolt/ |newspaper=Hillingdon & Uxbridge Times |date=6 November 2002 |accessdate=16 July 2011}} Units from Uxbridge would move to RAF Northolt and the Royal Artillery Barracks,{{cite news |title=Barracks will boost work |url=http://www.hillingdontimes.co.uk/archive/2002/11/04/Local+London+Archive/6287598.Barracks_will_boost_work/ |newspaper=Hillingdon & Uxbridge Times |date=4 November 2002 |accessdate=22 July 2011}} while RAF Bentley Priory would close within ten years.

In 2006, the project was confirmed to involve the closure of RAF Uxbridge, RAF Eastcote, RAF Bentley Priory, Inglis Barracks and Victoria House, with RAF Northolt the sole core site for unit relocations. The first site to be sold was RAF Eastcote in January 2007.{{cite web |url=http://www.propertyweek.com/chocks-away/3079545.article |title=Chocks away |last=Morrison |first=Doug |date=12 January 2007 |publisher=Property Week |accessdate=14 September 2010}} Funds raised from the sale of sites would then be reinvested into the redevelopment work at RAF Northolt.{{cite web |url=http://www.partnershipsuk.org.uk/uploads/documents/model%28vs4%29.pdf |title=Project MoDEL |publisher=Partnerships UK |accessdate=14 June 2011}} Following the relocation of units, RAF Northolt would become the base for 40 units in total of the RAF, Royal Navy and the British Army.{{cite news |title=RAF bases to be sold for housing |last=Ali |first=Alex |url=http://www.hillingdontimes.co.uk/news/localnews/930172.RAF_bases_to_be_sold_for_housing/ |newspaper=Hillingdon & Uxbridge Times |date=21 September 2006 |accessdate=22 July 2011}}

File:OfficersMessBentley.JPG

RAF Bentley Priory was a non-flying Royal Air Force station near Stanmore in the London Borough of Harrow. It was famous as the headquarters of Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and the Second World War. The RAF Bentley Priory site includes a Grade II* listed Officers' Mess and Italian Gardens. These, together with the park are designated a Registered Garden Grade II.

Originally built in 1766, Bentley Priory was significantly extended in 1788, by Sir John Soane, for John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn. The priory was the final home of the Dowager Queen Adelaide, queen consort of William IV, before her death there in 1849. It subsequently served as a hotel and girls' school before being acquired by the Royal Air Force in 1926.

The Royal Air Force station role ceased on 30 May 2008, following the relocation of units to their new accommodation at RAF Northolt and the site will be used for private accommodation and the Officers' Mess will become a Battle of Britain museum.

RAF Bentley Priory closed in 2008 with plans for the building to be refurbished with luxury apartments and a Battle of Britain museum on RAF Fighter Command documenting the site's key role in the Battle.{{cite web |url=http://www.vsmestates.co.uk/schemes_bentley.htm |title=RAF Bentley Priory |publisher=VSM Estates |accessdate=14 September 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7428386.stm |title=Battle of Britain RAF base closes |date=30 May 2008 |publisher=BBC News |accessdate=14 September 2010}} In September 2010 the site was sold to Barratt Homes for the development of new housing and City & Country for the conversion of the existing building into housing and the museum.

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File:Housing on former RAF Eastcote.jpg

RAF Eastcote was originally built as a military hospital during the Second World War to prepare for military casualties in the D-Day landings. They were subsequently not required for the purpose and became barracks for Navy WRENS.{{cite web |url=http://www.ruislip.co.uk/eastcotemod/index.htm |title=Eastcote MOD |publisher=Ruislip Online |accessdate=14 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203142927/http://www.ruislip.co.uk/eastcotemod/index.htm |archive-date=3 February 2011 |url-status=dead }} A Bletchley Park outpost was established at the station during the Second World War to house some of the Bombe and Colossus codebreaker machines.{{cite web |url=http://www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/west-london-news/local-uxbridge-news/hyperlocals/2010/03/15/eastcote-113046-26037595/ |title=Eastcote |date=15 March 2010 |publisher=Uxbridge Gazette |accessdate=10 March 2011}} After the war the site was purchased by the Crown in 1947 and housed the fledgling GCHQ before it moved to Cheltenham. Other buildings were used by the Post Office, the United States Air Force and a women's teacher training college.

The site was sold for development to George Wimpey in 2007 with plans for the construction of 385 new homes.{{cite web |url=http://www.vsmestates.co.uk/schemes_eastcote.htm |title=RAF Eastcote |publisher=VSM Estates |accessdate=14 September 2010}} The {{convert|19|acre|m2|adj=on}} site was the first to be disposed of as part of Project MoDEL. All buildings on the site were demolished in 2008.

All Royal Air Force activity, along with the offices of the British Forces Post Office, based at the Inglis Barracks in Mill Hill from 1962, were relocated to new purpose-built buildings at RAF Northolt, along with new accommodation to replace the demolished barracks at Eastcote and West Ruislip, following a public-private agreement between the government and contractors.{{cite web |url=http://www.vsmestates.co.uk/schemes_millhill.htm |title=Inglis Barracks, Mill Hill |date=14 December 2007 |publisher=VSM Estates |accessdate=14 September 2010}} The new Post Office building was designed and constructed by Bovis Lend Lease with a {{convert|75000|ft2|adj=on}} sorting hall.{{cite web |url=http://www.bovislendlease.com/llweb/bll/main.nsf/images/pdf_project_uk_bfpo.pdf/$file/pdf_project_uk_bfpo.pdf |title=British Forces Post Office Relocation |publisher=Bovis Lend Lease |accessdate=14 September 2010}}

File:Battle of Britain operations room.JPG

RAF Uxbridge was a non-flying station of the RAF in Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The station was built within the grounds of Hillingdon House, which had been purchased by the British Government in 1915.

The station is best known as the headquarters of No. 11 Group RAF commanded by Air Chief Marshal Keith Park during the Battle of Britain, when it was responsible for the defence of the main area of combat around London and the South-East of England. The group headquarters were at Hillingdon House within the base grounds. An underground bunker, now known as the Battle of Britain Bunker, was built nearby to handle the control of fighter squadrons, primarily from the 11 Group Operations Room. The base was responsible for controlling the evacuation of Dunkirk in May 1940 (Operation Dynamo) and the air operations of the D-Day landings during the latter stages of the war in 1944 (Operation Overlord).

RAF Uxbridge closed on 31 March 2010 with the final remaining units transferring to their new base at RAF Northolt the following day.{{cite news |title=Closing ceremony for historic RAF Uxbridge |newspaper=Hillingdon & Uxbridge Times |date=31 March 2010 |url=http://www.hillingdontimes.co.uk/news/localnews/6242900.RAF_Uxbridge_holds_closing_ceremony/ |accessdate=12 September 2010}} Plans for the site, totalling {{convert|110|acre|m2|adj=on}}, were approved for development in January 2011 by the London Borough of Hillingdon. These involve the construction of 1,340 homes, shops, a theatre and a primary school built over 10 years, with the retention of all listed buildings on the site.{{cite news |title=Grand plans for RAF Uxbridge given green light |last=Coombs |first=Dan |newspaper=Uxbridge Gazette |date=25 January 2011 |url=http://uxbridge.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/2011/01/grand-plans-for-raf-uxbridge-g.html |accessdate=25 February 2011}} The London Borough of Hillingdon aim for the development to become an extension of Uxbridge town centre.{{cite web |url=http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?articleid=15466 |title=RAF Uxbridge: have your say on its future |date=6 July 2010 |publisher=London Borough of Hillingdon |accessdate=12 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927031959/http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?articleid=15466 |archivedate=27 September 2011 }}

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Victoria House in Greenwich, covering a {{convert|1.5|acre|m2|adj=on}} site, has also been sold, having been vacated in 2010. The building is now being converted for use as the Primary School element of Greenwich Free School.{{cite web|url=http://e-shootershill.co.uk/victoria-house/|title=Free School in the Officers Mess|publisher=Shooter's Hill|accessdate=30 August 2015}}

RAF West Ruislip was a former US Navy administration base, located in Ickenham within the London Borough of Hillingdon. It housed the Navy Exchange of the U.S. Naval Activities, United Kingdom command. The base was leased from the Ministry of Defence having originally been constructed for Royal Air Force use.{{cite web| url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/london.htm |title=London, UK |publisher=Global Security |accessdate=5 March 2011}}

In 2007 almost all buildings on the site were demolished,{{cite web |url=http://www.vsmestates.co.uk/schemes_west_ruislip.htm |title=RAF West Ruislip |publisher=VSM Estates |accessdate=14 September 2010}} and the {{convert|21|acre|m2|adj=on}} site sold to Cala Homes for £180m in November that year.{{cite web |url=http://www.cala.co.uk/homes/news/newsitem.aspx?id=748 |title=Cala Acquires West Ruislip RAF Site For Record £180M Housing Development |date=14 December 2007 |publisher=Cala Homes |accessdate=14 September 2010}} Plans for around 415 homes and a retirement home were approved by the London Borough of Hillingdon in July 2007.{{cite web |url=http://www.vsmestates.co.uk/downloads/130707_west_ruislip.pdf |title=London Borough of Hillingdon approves plans for the redevelopment of RAF West Ruislip |date=13 July 2007 |publisher=VSM Estates |accessdate=5 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006143856/http://www.vsmestates.co.uk/downloads/130707_west_ruislip.pdf |archive-date=6 October 2011 |url-status=dead }}

• Project Allenby Connaught

;Citations

{{reflist|2}}

;Bibliography

• Crozier, Hazel; Wren, Chris; Askew, Sam. (2010) RAF Uxbridge - A Fond Farewell. RAF High Wycombe: Air Command Media Services

• [http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/Microsite/DIO/ Defence Infrastructure Organisation]
• [http://www.vsmestates.co.uk VSM Estates]
• [http://www.wandconsulting.co.uk WAND Consulting]

Category:United Kingdom defence procurement