The development of the St Athan site

The focal point for the site will be one of the largest covered facilities in Europe, the Red Dragon Hanger. This was constructed around four years ago and was originally designed for aeronautical Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO). Now it is be given an exciting new lease of life. To put the size of this facility into perspective the Red Dragon Hanger is big enough to contain six VC10 aircraft. Furthermore, it is perfectly laid out and equipped to carry out training, both on the assets themselves, the aircraft and the vehicles that it will contain, and within the classrooms that will be built in and around it.

The classrooms will be located within the technical area so students will be able to look out at the assets that they are learning about in addition to taking classes in purpose-built facilities that will be attached to the hangar.The DTC’s brand new accommodation blocks will contain more than 3700 bedrooms and one can readily see from the images and diagrams used within this article that we are creating a site which will not only be an excellent environment for learning, but also one that will provide an exciting modern living environment with all the sporting and leisure activities expected by both the trainees and trainers as well as local residents. The DTC will be an environment that will attract and retain the Service personnel of the future and will, we believe, project the right image and make the right impression on young people who want to make a career in the Armed Forces.

Overall, the vision of the DTC at St Athan is to ensure that all who train there – all those who provide the training and who help to manage the site – will be given the best facilities, the best tools and the best maintained environment that can be devised in a modern campus environment.