At Rollalong we’re committed to supporting the armed forces community wherever we can, which is why we’re pleased to say that we’ve secured the Bronze Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) and signed the Armed Forces Covenant.
The MoD scheme encourages businesses and other organisations to support the defence sector and inspire others to do the same.
It offers Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards to organisations that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to defence and the armed forces community and align their values with the Armed Forces Covenant.
The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise by the nation which ensures that those who serve, or have served, in the Armed Forces and their families are treated fairly.
“As a business located in the South West, where the UK armed forces have deep and long established roots in the community, we’re committed to supporting the defence sector and both current and former serving personnel,” said Rollalong Managing Director Steve Chivers.
“We are a major supplier of Single Living Accommodation for the MoD and we have signed up for this scheme in order to emphasise our support for the armed forces generally and former personnel in particular.”
As Bronze Award holders Rollalong has made the following commitments:
- we’ve pledged to support the armed forces, including existing or prospective employees who are members of the community
- we’ve signed the Armed Forces Covenant
- we’re armed forces-friendly and open to employing reservists, veterans (including the wounded, injured and sick), cadet instructors and military spouses or partners
20th April 2021
We’re honoured and delighted in equal measure to be featured in this new commemorative book which has been published by Aspire Defence Capital Works.
The book is a permanent record of the work carried out under the 2016-2020 Army Basing Programme across the Salisbury Plain Training Area and Aldershot, and we’re pleased to be featured as one of ADCW’s key partners.
We’ve worked with Aspire Defence on the ABP project since 2016, during which time we’ve manufactured and installed 1,599 modules, comprising 52 individual Single Living Accommodation buildings. These now provide over 2,400 en suite single rooms for soldiers based at Tidworth, Larkhill, Perham Down, Bulford and Aldershot.
We’re extremely proud of the quality of work we’ve achieved in a relatively short time frame.
Well done to everyone in the team who’s been involved and thanks to all at Aspire Defence!
26th January 2021
We’ve used the latest offsite techniques to provide a new café for students and staff at the Royal School of Artillery in Larkhill Garrison on Salisbury Plain.
The café is the latest building we’ve delivered at Larkhill Garrison on behalf of Aspire Defence Services.
Located in the centre of the Royal School of Artillery, the café will deliver a much-needed additional learning space while providing an opportunity for students and permanent staff to engage with their personal development in a relaxed and unique atmosphere.
“We were approached by Aspire Defence Services Ltd to assist them with the design and build of a new café which had to be linked to an existing building and used as an interactive learning hub,” said Wayne Cheshire, Contract Manager for Special Works.
“This has been a challenging venture but thanks to everyone’s hard work and commitment a high-quality project has been successfully delivered that the client will be proud to use.”
Our MD Steve Chivers added: “We have a close and very positive working relationship with Aspire Defence and we’re proud of all the buildings we have delivered for the Army across Salisbury Plain and Aldershot as part of the recent Army Basing Programme (ABP) and the original Project Allenby Connaught PFI contract with the MoD.
“We undertake a lot of work for the armed forces because our modular single living accommodation (SLA) buildings are constructed to exacting standards that satisfy the Army and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation’s (DIO’s) requirements.”
In 2018 we won the Best Offsite Project of the Year award at the Constructing Excellence South West Built Environment Awards for the modular single living accommodation we built for British Army personnel at Larkhill under the Army Basing Programme.
Pictured above are our Site Manager Philip Morris (left) outside the Larkhill café with Wayne Cheshire, Contract Manager at Rollalong.
10th June 2020 We’re pleased to say that we’re starting to re-open our construction sites as the coronavirus lockdown eases. We’ve re-opened our site at Sugden Way in Barking, East London where we’re working with regeneration company BeFirst to deliver affordable housing for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. We’ve recommenced groundworks for a café for Aspire Defence Ltd at MOD Larkhill on Salisbury Plain and we’re back on site in Bridport where we’re completing an office complex for Dorset County Council’s highways department. We’re also starting a number of new construction projects across the south of England. “Like many construction companies we closed all our sites when the national lockdown was first announced in March,” said Managing Director Steve Chivers. “In line with Government guidelines we are now re-opening these sites and getting back to work while always prioritising the health and safety of our staff, suppliers, contractors and local residents.” We’ve produced our own COVID-19 Site Operating Procedures to sit alongside and enhance the guidance issued by the Construction Leadership Council and the Government. The procedures set out Rollalong’s approach to safely operating construction sites to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and include measures such as:- providing hand sanitising stations around site
- providing COVID-19 induction training to all personnel
- displaying signs on hand hygiene and social distancing
- reducing seating in offices and canteens to maintain social distancing
- enhanced cleaning regimes for commonly touched surfaces
- meetings to be held outside where possible
- staggered breaks to reduce the number of people using the canteen
- one-way system for pedestrians to prevent people crossing
Offsite Construction For Bedroom Module
Since offsite construction began in 2016, there has been major investment in modern, en suite single living accommodation (SLA), to ensure that soldiers live in the best possible environments. Rollalong have supported the project by simplifying the manufacturing and installation process to create repeatable and identical buildings which were erected in our factory in excess of 20 modules per week. Rollalong modular buildings stack, and the buildings provided for the ABP are 3 storeys high with a pitched roof – effectively an apartment block. Bedroom module’s provided, included fixed furniture: wardrobe, drawers, cupboards and a desk. Lighting is provided by low-energy LED lighting and heating is via a wet central heating system. The provision of SLA is a critical construction activity within the overall ABP programme for SPTA. Around 2,400 bed spaces have been delivered by ADCW, contracting to Rollalong. Off-site modular accommodation is efficient, cost-effective and involves high-spec methods of technical construction. The SLA manufacturing process for ABP has required a staggering 6.3 million nails, 37,000 sheets of steel and 192,000 sheets of plasterboard. On completion, each module has been transported fifty miles by lorry to Army garrisons in Wiltshire and Hampshire, where they are installed on site by Rollalong’s expert team working with ADCW. Steve Chivers, Managing Director of Rollalong, added: “We are very proud to have played a key role in the ABP programme. Our success is recognition of the tremendous work that the entire team at Rollalong puts in to deliver the best service to our clients, to ensure the programme stays on track and to deliver the high standard of accommodation that soldiers need and deserve. Significant Milestone Mark Duddy, Army Basing Programme Director, said: “It is fantastic to see this final module take its place in the last block of new single living accommodation at Tidworth Garrison. It is testament to the excellent working partnerships at all levels of this project that the required bed space provision has been delivered on time, ready for soldiers rebasing from Germany and within the UK in just a few months’ time.” Paul Dempster, Managing Director, ADCW, said: “I am delighted that we have reached this significant milestone in the delivery of our construction for the Army Basing Programme. The excellent working relationships we have with Rollalong and all members of our supply chain, both on and off site, are benefitting the local economy and will ensure that we deliver the high-quality, purpose-built accommodation required to support military capability and make soldiers’ lives better.” The ABP was set up to deliver Army 2020 as part of the Government’s 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) commitments. The ABP construction programme is scheduled for completion by 2020, enabling all British Army units based in Germany to return to the UK by then, saving up to £240 million per year by 2022/23. More information on December’s last bedroom module manufacturing event: https://www.rollalong.co.uk/armed-forces-tv-filming-at-rollalong/We are nearing completion on our largest conversion project to date. Our Rollalong Special Works team have been working with Aspire Defence Services Ltd (ADSL) to convert 49 JRSLA Assets (Junior Ranks Single Living Accommodation) from 36 Bed Accommodation to 40 Bed Accommodation Blocks.
Under the 35 yr Project Allenby/Connaught (PAC) contract ADSL is supplying the Total Facilities Management element across the four Army garrisons on Salisbury Plain and in Aldershot.
(PAC) is the largest infrastructure PFI contract ever led by the MoD and has significantly improved the lives of some 18,700 soldiers (20% of the trained British Army) through the provision of modern, high quality, fully serviced and purpose built living and working accommodation.
The JRSLA Conversion project spans all four garrisons and will create an additional 196 soldiers’ bedrooms. This forms part of the army’s extensive rebasing programme. This challenging project has been delivered during normal working hours in occupied accommodation blocks. Through careful planning and excellent organisation, disruption to the resident soldiers has been kept to an absolute minimum. The project has provided the MoD with an extremely cost effective solution to create additional bed spaces.
The project is due for completion at the end of March 2015.