Royal Air Force base in the south of Cyprus to undergo renovations after £66 million contract awarded

A military site belonging to the Royal Air Force (RAF) in southern Cyprus is set to be redeveloped after a contract worth £66 million was provided by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and UK Strategic Command (UKStratCom). The funds are set to go towards building a brand-new terminal and freight buildings, which are labelled as the Passenger and Freight Handling Facility.

RAF Akrotiri, built in the 1950s, is undergoing a significant transformation as DIO and UKStratCom share duties as part of the APOLLO Programme where the infrastructure of Ministry of Defence (MOD) locations in Cyprus are being prioritised for upgrades. Britain has upgraded the base before as the DIO worked on a new runway there, which was opened in 2017 and cost £46 million.

The site is extremely valuable to military operations as it was able to support British nationals moving out from Sudan recently and has played a supporting role in other operations. It also provides military training there and is used as a forward operating base.

Due to the site being located on an island where earthquakes are prone to occur, the contract will allow buildings to be either torn down and replaced or strengthened if the existing infrastructure is strong enough to not need a full demolishing job. These upgrades on the base will allow those operating on the site and their families to be able to access improved facilities.

Minister for Defence Procurement, James Cartlidge, spoke on the relevance of the Cypriot-located RAF base. He said: "RAF Akrotiri is an incredibly busy overseas base, supporting operations in the region and beyond – including the recent evacuation from Sudan - and this £66 million investment will significantly improve these facilities for our personnel and their families."

The current outlook of the Passenger and Freight Handling Facility remains the same as how it was in the 1960s and despite the base being highly valued as it has been used for key operations, the facility is not big enough anymore to comfortably deal with the volume of passengers that are placed on modern aircraft.

The facility was initially constructed to aid the VC-10 Aircraft, where 131 passengers were carried, however, the new aircraft, RAF Voyagers, carries 291 passengers and 14 crew members. The use of more modern aircraft means more passengers have to be attended to and that has caused regular over-crowding in the arrival and departure areas.

The upgraded facility will now have an aeromedical area that will attend to patients who are waiting to board an upcoming flight. Also, the site will now use solar PV renewable energy, solar control glazing and intelligent lighting controls to help with emitting less energy from the base.

Sustainability is a key aspect of the new design and other components to carry that out include resources for electric vehicle charging, rainwater harvesting plus usage of sustainable urban drainage systems within the car park space.

Also, the new facility will allow for a larger allocation for check-ins as there will be a further check-in desk, making there four instead of two before, whilst a larger security scanning area will be on hand.

Director of Cyprus Service Provider (CSP), Heraclis Passades, expressed delight at the company being chosen to construct the new facility. He stated: "We are delighted to have been awarded the contract for the design and construction of the Passenger and Freight Handling Facilities at RAF Akrotiri. I would like to thank the MOD and DIO for entrusting us with this important project".

CSP will provide a large number of jobs for construction work and will include employment opportunities for people from communities on the island as well as experienced personnel from Britain.

British companies are set to benefit from this contract as CSP has partnered with British-based designer, Ridge and Partners LLP, to work on concrete plans for the facilities that will be placed at RAF Akrotiri. Equipment and materials used for the redevelopment and building process will be sourced from the British market.

Britain's large involvement in the design of the newly renovated site will significantly help the British economy grow. That in turn will meet one of the Government's current priorities.

The construction on the site will reportedly begin later in 2023 and full completion of the new facility will arrive by late 2026. The current site in use will then be demolished in 2027, marking the full modern transformation of RAF Akrotiri.

Elsewhere, Britain has recently allied with other nations including the Netherlands, Denmark and the United States to provide air defence resources to Ukraine, to aid the country in its ongoing conflict with Russia.