The UK Ministry of Defence has announced the completion of a military storage hub in North West England.
Built at Longtown near the southern Scottish border, the facility will house a “broad range” of military inventory, including large spare parts owned by the British Army, Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force.
The 76,000 square-meter (818,057 square-foot) site will also support other Defence Fulfillment Centers across Shropshire and Oxfordshire to maintain materiel availability for warfighters.
Construction of the 98.5-million-pound ($130.9-million) depot was conducted in collaboration with Belfast-based McLaughlin & Harvey and supported more than 400 jobs in Scotland and England.
‘State of the Art’ Center
Among the primary features of the repository are its “green” technologies and practices, such as automated climate control, energy-efficient lighting, recyclable packing solutions, nature reserve areas, and rainwater collection equipment, to operate in line with the British government’s net-zero goals.
The warehouse will also be assisted by a rail network for cost-effective and consistent logistics.
The Longtown storage center will be managed by the government’s defense procurement arm (DE&S) in partnership with a consortium led by Leidos.
An official opening ceremony for the hub is scheduled later this year.
“The completion of the build phase of the MOD’s Longtown Defence Storage Facility marks a leap forward in our storage of materiel to support all parts of the armed forces,” DE&S Logistics, Services and Commodities Strategy and Special Projects Head Les Millar said.
“[It gives] us a state of the art environmentally efficient facility to store a significant amount of parts and spares for Defence platforms, enabling us to be better prepared for the military threats faced, both today and for the foreseeable future.”
