RAF HOLMPTON TODAY - RAF HOLMPTON

Updated 1st January 2010

RAF HOLMPTON TODAY

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RAF HOLMPTON OVERVIEW
HISTORIC RAF HOLMPTON
ABOUT US
GREEN ISSUES
EMPLOYMENT POLICY

The Restored 'MCRS' Operations Room

RAF HOLMPTON OVERVIEW - The present site of RAF Holmpton was built between 1951 and 1952 and started its operational life in 1953 as an Early Warning Radar Station. Going on to become a principal radar site this remained operational until the relocation of the radars in 1974, the Station then became a training facility for RAF Radar Technicians until 1984 parented by RAF Leaconfield. During the mid 1980's it was refurbished as a new Emergency War HQ for RAF Support Command parented by RAF Brampton, but with the ending of the Cold War it reverted to training between 1992 and 1995, now being used by the RAF Regiment, the RAF Police, the ROC and the TA parented by RAF Leconfield. Extensive rebuilding in 1995 saw it become an Experimetal Electronic Warware Operations Centre (CCIS) with projected plans for a further massive rebuild. This final phase did not proceed and the site then moved onto care and maintenance by Aqumen Defence in 2001 now parented by RAF Digby but under the control of Personnel and Training Command HQ at RAF Innsworth. This was only to be a short period of inactivity as on 10th February 2003 the site moved onto its current plan.

HISTORIC RAF HOLMPTON - February 2003 saw the start of a new project to gradually restore the whole site and initially provide a facility holding Archives and photographs of underground defence establishments built in the British Isles between 1945 and the present day. In early 2004 limited access allowed public visitors below ground for the first time in over 50 years and by August 2004 this progressed to providing a new exhibition along with guided tours of the Preserved Heritage Areas of the Command Bunker. By 2005 this had expanded into a major exhibition with regular public opening times, and each year has seen further expansion and improvement of the visitor experience with the incorporation of many original artefacts throughout the displays. A new TV and Video Studio was installed in 2007 and our DEFENCE ARCHIVES UNIT (DAU) now maintains our extensive film and image library. This is regularly used to create our own audio visual presentations throughout the public areas further enhancing the displays and enabling us to continually improve and update the permanent exhibitions. Investment in the site reached £2,000,000 by late 2009 and work continues on further restoration. 2010 will see this work contimuing with additional areas opening to visitors in 2011. The whole project is scheduled for completion during 2012. Since starting in 2003 the project has continually evolved and much of the originally stored archive material relating to RAF Holmpton is now on display throughout the exhibition making this much more accessibale to the visiting public and increasing the authenticity of the permanent displays. RAF Holmpton has already won a number of Awards and aims to be in it's Mission Statement: 'The most authentic restoration of a Cold War & Post Cold War Command Bunker open to visitors in the UK' - from the feedback we continually receive from our ever growing number of visitors we seem to be achieving this..............The story continues

ABOUT US - Between February 2003 and November 2009 the co-ordination of the whole project at RAF Holmpton was managed by HIPPO or to give it's full name: (The Holmpton Initiative Project Planning Office) which took over the management contract of the site from AQUMEN DEFENCE in 2003. HIPPO was an independent finance initiative (IFI) and operated at no cost to the taxpayer. Its purpose was to complete the initial restoration and refurbishment of the whole site prior to the handover of the Public Exhibitons & Historic Collections to the Preservation Society.

On 1st November 2009 'The Royal Air Force Holmpton Preservation Society' took over management of the Public Exhibitons and Conservation of the Historic Collections. RAFHPS now has overall responsibility for the Public visits to the Preserved Heritage Areas of the Underground Bunker Facility - The Displays and Exhibitions - The Defence Archives Unit - The Photographic & Film Archive and the VTR Studio Facility - But most importantly it also continues the restoration and preservation of the historic site. Backed by our team's past experience of implementing four major National Heritage Sites. Hellfire Corner Secret Wartime Tunnels at Dover Castle for English Heritage - The Western Approaches WWII Headquarters for the City of Liverpool - Scotland's Secret Bunker near St Andrews and The Furze Hill AAOR (County HQ) Bunker in Essex - The final stages of the restoration project including additional visitor areas are now set to complete by 2012.

The Land & Buildings Management - Day to Day Maintenance & Technical Systems are now managed by our Joint Support Unit, and although the site is still a part of the Royal Air Force and the Defence Estate, the entire project is privately funded as a NCO (No Cost Option) - This simply means that whole site is managed, maintained and preserved at absolutely no cost to the Government or Taxpayer and We are rightly proud of this achievement.

GREEN ISSUES - We are proud of our continued track record of conservation and preservation. Yorkshire Water have completed (2007) a new scheme improving both the integrity of the fresh water supply to the site & the drainage of natural land water. An example of this is our storage of over 55,000gallons of rain water which we use for land maintenance/vehicle washing etc, further reducing our call of the main supply. Our water consumption has been minimised with flow meters and reduced capacity equipment and we process all our main drainage through our on site effluent works. 2007 saw a major commitment to energy conservation and the entire site is now fitted with energy effecient lighting with our external lighting fitted with shielding to mimimise vertical light pollution. We have also completed (November 2007 with Yorkshire Electricity) a totally new power supply scheme, which has done away with our original high voltage sub station and replaced this with a new low voltage supply. Back in the 1950's the radar station drew up to 1megawatt from the national grid and even up to 2003 the station might at any time draw up to 300Kva. We have now installed new energy effecient central heating together with new air conditioning and water heating systems and even if everything in the building was turned on at full power at the same time (which it never is) our maximum call on the national grid would only be 42Kva, so we have achieved a truly massive reduction. In 2008 we will be installing new generators in our power station and these will enable us to run free of the grid in times of emergency. Our new generators will have a maximum capacity of 25Kva which is in itself again a massive reduction from our old generators which had a call of 300Kva. The contract for this part of the new system has not been awarded as yet but we are investugating the possibility of using gas generators as an alternative. All our domestic and office waste is taken directly for recycling and our land is maintained without the use of fertilisers and we produce hay from our 31 acres during the spring/summer. Being a fenced site we are able to protect and not disturb our wildlife. We have resident birds on site including Kestrel & Owls, and we belong to a local scheme providing Owl boxes. We are justifiably proud of our approach to the environment and our extensive energy - water and waste projects have achieved a reduction in our carbon footprint of 85%.

Just over 1 mile of fencing & hedgerows enclosing 36 acres of land provide a 'Haven' for Wildlife (Birds - Rodents - Rabbits - Fox - etc)

EMPLOYMENT POLICY - We are an equal opportunities employer and have a policy of comprehensive inclusion for all regardless of race - creed - orientation or age. We are signed up to 'Positive About Disabled' and 'Age Partnership Group' - In year 2000 we won a Millennium Award for our policy on Social Exclusion.

PRESERVING ROYAL AIR FORCE HOLMPTON

MAINTAINING ROYAL AIR FORCE HOLMPTON