Aspire Defence scoops prestigious gold award

Recognising the success of the Army Basing Programme 

Aspire Defence and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) have won the gold award for the Best Operational Project – Social Infrastructure at the 2020 Partnerships Awards.

This award continues to be a standard bearer for recognising collaboration and the gold award is a further recognition of that ground breaking partnership working in practice.  This success would not be possible without a shared vision to deliver high quality infrastructure through collaborative working by the public and private sectors.

Open to organisations, projects and individual across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the awards are held annually for completed and operational infrastructure projects to recognise and reward outstanding partnerships in the public – private sector.

Allan Thomson, CEO, Aspire Defence said the winning the award was a very proud moment for everyone involved in the project over the past four years.

“The award recognises the delivery of new and improved defence infrastructure to support the Army Basing Programme under Project Allenby/Connaught; which continues to deliver on the shared vision of its partners, namely improving the lived experience for Army personnel.“

Going on to say; “It’s been an impressive achievement from the whole team.  They have demonstrated how a partnership between industry and the public sector, can deliver outstanding infrastructure and services.   We are proud of the team effort that has helped to deliver this project and for that to be recognised with this award feels fantastic.”

Major General David Southall CBE, Director Army Basing and Infrastructure said

“This award rightly recognises the achievements of the Army, DIO and Aspire teams, working together in partnership. The centrepiece of the Army Basing Programme is our new infrastructure in Wiltshire and on Salisbury Plain, supporting an additional 8,000 Service personnel and their families. Together we have made a tangible difference to the lives of our Service personnel, providing state of the art accommodation and enabling the next generation to better live, work and train together. The team leaves a legacy firm base footprint which will showcase, for years to come, the very best of the Army estate.“

The judges considered this project to be a great example of how public-private partnerships can incorporate change, while at the same time adding social value. They reflected that the level of flexibility on such a large project was highly impressive, and furthermore acknowledged the benefits to Service personal as Salisbury Plain is set to become a showcase ‘hub’ for Army healthcare.

This year, like countless other events and conferences around the globe during the Covid pandemic the awards ceremony was held virtually, with guests able to video chat with each other online.