It’s been five years since our work on Wiltshire Air Ambulance‘s new airbase in Semington, Wiltshire was completed, so we’ve been looking back on what a great project it was to work on and the impact it’s had since then.
Reaching completion in May 2018, this purpose-built airbase was designed to enable the Wiltshire Air Ambulance crew and charity team to all work under the same roof, making their incredible lifesaving service more cost-effective to run in the long-term. Over the five years since, it’s proved a fantastic success and a worthwhile investment, even winning the RICS Project of The Year Award in 2019!
We provided Architectural, Project Management and Quantity Surveying services for the airbase’s design and construction, working with an established team of professionals including WSP Group, Rigg Construction and Johns Associates.
The state-of-the-art base is a two-storey construction with an adjoining hangar to house the aircraft and facilitate day-to-day maintenance. The base also comprises an air approach corridor and landing pad, offices for the charity team, and a training suite including an immersive simulation room for aircrew.
The construction process involved a huge amount of work and negotiation between the Design Team and associated working groups. Several rounds of Value Engineering were undertaken on both scheme and design stages to ensure that whilst the building was functional, it also represented value for money.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s new home united the entire team in one location rather than two different sites, whilst still enabling the helicopter to reach any part of Wiltshire within 11 minutes.
Richard Youens, President of Wiltshire Air Ambulance, said: “I imagine everyone else was as completely blown away as I was. Yes, we’d seen the plans, the model, the site under construction but nothing could prepare me at least for the finished product. You and your team have delivered in spades. Well done all round. A very big thanks. We have a base of which we can all be immensely proud.”
Thank you Wiltshire Air Ambulance for the great work you do. We were proud to work on this project and pleased to support such a wonderful charitable organisation in continuing your work into the future.
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