Defence Estate Optimisation (DEO) Portfolio

About DEO

DEO is a long-term investment to modernise the defence estate. It’s an ambitious 25-year portfolio of construction activity, unit and personnel moves, and site disposals that will deliver a better structured, more economical and modern estate that more effectively supports military capability.

The portfolio was first mobilised in late 2016 to implement the MOD’s Footprint Strategy (FS) to contribute to the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review’s commitment to invest in key defence sites and reduce the departments built estate. SDSR also laid out that the disposal of surplus Defence Estate would release public sector land for new homes as part of wider government housing objectives. FS was announced in part as “A Better Defence Estate” (BDE) by the Secretary of State in November 2016 pledging a multi-billion investment in the estate.

Major investment projects

DEO will deliver the infrastructure needed to support defence people and core military capabilities. It will enable centres of military expertise by co-locating units that improve the effectiveness of their training, and longer-term basing plans, whilst also providing new and refurbished accommodation and facilities for service personnel and their families.

Major projects include the infrastructure for the Army’s STRIKE Brigades, Armoured Infantry Brigades, and Specialist Infantry Battalions; Royal Marine estate consolidation; and new RAF Officer and recruit training facilities, as well as the new home for the Red Arrows. DEO will also invest in over 25,000 new and refurbished houses and single living accommodation, 145,000m2 of contemporary office space for over 12,000 people, and 63 specialist military workshops and garages as well as medical, dental and sports facilities. Construction of this scale is calculated to create nearly 20,000 direct jobs within the UK.

Currently new facilities are under construction at 8 defence sites, with contracts placed for further development at sites across the UK.

Site disposals

As part of the optimisation process, defence will dispose of sites it no longer requires. These sites create opportunities for alternative use, resulting in regeneration, housing or business growth and job creation within the local area. Full details of the sites identified for disposal, subject to assessment, can be found in the related documents.

Related documents

• DEO Disposal Timeline 2022 (accessible version) (ODT, 7.8 KB)
• DEO Disposal Timeline 2022 (PDF, 145 KB, 1 page)
• DEO Investment map (PDF, 720 KB, 1 page)
• SRO vision (PDF, 53 KB, 1 page)
• A Better Defence Estate
• Defence Disposal Database

Related news

• Defence Secretary announced five-year plan for key military sites
• Construction begins on DIO’s new Whittington headquarters
• Royal Army Chaplains’ Museum cuts ground in Shrivenham.